Category: Uncategorized

Updated February 22, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh.
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On Feb. 23, 1868, W.E.B. DuBois, the American sociologist who co-founded the N.A.A.C.P., was born. Following his death on Aug. 27, 1963, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1685	Composer George Frideric Handel was born in Germany.
1822	Boston was granted a charter to incorporate as a city.
1836	The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
1847	U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican general Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.
1848	John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, died at age 80 in Washington, D.C., two days after suffering a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives.
1861	President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly in Washington to take office after an assassination plot was foiled in Baltimore.
1870	Mississippi was readmitted to the Union.
1954	The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began, in Pittsburgh.
1965	Stan Laurel of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy died at age 74.
1991	President George H.W. Bush announced that the allied ground offensive against Iraqi forces had begun.
1997	Scientists in Scotland announced they had cloned an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly.
1999	A jury in Jasper, Texas, convicted white supremacist John William King of murder in the dragging death of an African-American man, James Byrd Jr.
2000	Carlos Santana won eight Grammy Awards for his album “Supernatural,” tying the record set by Michael Jackson in 1983 for “Thriller.”
2003	Norah Jones won five Grammy Awards for the album “Come Away With Me.”
2011	The Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actress Emily Blunt turns 29 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Actress Dakota Fanning turns 18 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

1940	Peter Fonda, Actor, director, turns 72
1943	Fred Biletnikoff, Football Hall of Famer, turns 69
1944	Johnny Winter, Rock singer, turns 68
1951	Patricia Richardson, Actress (“Home Improvement”), turns 61
1952	Brad Whitford, Rock musician (Aerosmith), turns 60
1954	Howard Jones, Rock singer, turns 58
1965	Kristin Davis, Actress (“Sex and the City”), turns 47

 

Historic Birthdays

W.E.B. DuBois 2/23/1868 – 8/27/1963 American sociologist who helped found the N.A.A.C.P.Go to obituary »

70	Samuel Pepys 2/23/1633 – 5/26/1703 English diarist and naval administrator
74	George Frideric Handel 2/23/1685 – 4/14/1759 German-bn. English composer
87	George Frederick Watts 2/23/1817 – 7/1/1904 English painter and sculptor
68	Cesar Ritz 2/23/1850 – 10/26/1918 French founder of the Ritz hotel in Paris
90	Norman Lindsay 2/23/1879 – 11/29/1969 Australian artist and novelist
88	Karl Jaspers 2/23/1881 – 2/26/1969 German Existentialist philosopher
65	Victor Fleming 2/23/1883 – 1/6/1949 American motion-picture director
89	William Shirer 2/23/1904 – 12/28/1993 American journalist, historian and novelist
74	Allan MacLeod Cormack 2/23/1924 – 5/7/1998 South African-bn. Am. Nobel Prize-winning physicist

 

Updated February 21, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 22, 1980, in a stunning upset, the United States Olympic hockey team defeated the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-to-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.)

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On Feb. 22, 1892, Edna St. Vincent Millay, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who personified romantic rebellion, was born. Following her death on Oct. 19, 1950, her obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1819	Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
1862	Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederacy.
1865	Tennessee adopted a new constitution abolishing slavery.
1879	Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y.
1924	Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House.
1932	Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., was born in Boston, the youngest child of Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy.
1935	It became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House.
1959	The inaugural Daytona 500 race was held in Daytona Beach, Fla.
1980	The U.S. hockey team beat the Soviets 4-3 In a stunning upset at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.
2001	A U.N. war crimes tribunal convicted three Bosnian Serbs on charges of rape and torture in the first case of wartime sexual enslavement to go before an international court.
2006	Insurgents destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines, the Askariya mosque in Samarra, setting off a spasm of sectarian violence.
2011	A magnitude-6.1 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, killed 184 people.
2011	Somali pirates shot to death four Americans taken hostage on their yacht several hundred miles south of Oman.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actress Drew Barrymore turns 37 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Actor Kyle MacLachlan turns 53 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

1918	Don Pardo, TV announcer (“Saturday Night Live”), turns 94
1944	Jonathan Demme, Director, turns 68
1950	Julius Erving, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 62
1952	Bill Frist, Former Senate majority leader, turns 60
1955	David Axelrod, Senior White House adviser, turns 57
1963	Vijay Singh, Golfer, turns 49
1965	Pat Lafontaine, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 47
1966	Rachel Dratch, Actress, comedian (“Saturday Night Live”), turns 46
1968	Jeri Ryan, Actress (“Boston Public”), turns 44
1972	Michael Chang, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 40
1977	James Blunt, Singer, turns 35

 

Historic Birthdays

Edna St. Vincent Millay 2/22/1892 – 10/19/1950 American poet and dramatist.Go to obituary »

58	Charles VII 2/22/1403 – 7/22/1461 King of France from 1422 to 1461
67	George Washington 2/22/1732 – 12/14/1799 American general and first president of U.S.
82	Rembrandt Peale 2/22/1778 – 10/3/1860 American painter, writer and portraitist
72	Arthur Schopenhauer 2/22/1788 – 9/21/1860 German philosopher
72	James Russell Lowell 2/22/1819 – 8/12/1891 American poet, critic, essayist and diplomat
73	August Bebel 2/22/1840 – 8/13/1913 German co-founder of the Social Democratic Party
77	Bill Klem 2/22/1874 – 9/16/1951 American National League baseball umpire
90	David Dubinsky 2/22/1892 – 9/17/1982 Russian-bn. American labor leader
83	Luis Bunuel 2/22/1900 – 7/29/1983 Spanish director and filmmaker
91	Sean O’Faolain 2/22/1900 – 4/20/1991 Irish short-story writer and teacher
80	Peter Hurd 2/22/1904 – 7/9/1984 American painter, printmaker and illustrator
73	Giulietta Masina 2/22/1921 – 3/23/1994 Italian motion-picture actress

 

Updated February 20, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York City; he was 39.

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On Feb. 21, 1893, Andres Segovia, the Spanish musician who established the guitar as an important concert instrument, was born. Following his death on June 2, 1987, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1848	Former President John Quincy Adams suffered a stroke on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. (He died two days later.)
1878	The first telephone directory was issued, by the District Telephone Co. of New Haven, Conn.
1885	The Washington Monument was dedicated.
1907	Poet W.H. Auden was born in York, England.
1916	The World War I Battle of Verdun began in France.
1925	The New Yorker magazine made its debut.
1947	Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.
1972	President Richard M. Nixon began his historic visit to China.
1973	Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan Airlines jet over the Sinai Desert, killing more than 100 people.
1975	Former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.
1988	TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart tearfully confessed to his congregation in Baton Rouge, La., that he was guilty of an unspecified sin, and said he was leaving the pulpit temporarily. (Reports linked Swaggart to a prostitute.)
1989	President George H.W. Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini’s death warrant against “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie “deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior.”
1995	Chicago stockbroker Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon, landing in Canada.
2011	Deep cracks opened in Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, with Libyan government officials at home and abroad resigning, air force pilots defecting and a major government building ablaze after clashes in the capital of Tripoli.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actor Kelsey Grammer (“Fraiser”) turns 57 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

Actress Tyne Daly (“Cagney and Lacey”) turns 66 years old today.

AP Photo/Charles Sykes

1939	Richard Beymer, Actor (“West Side Story”), turns 73
1943	David Geffen, Recording executive, turns 69
1946	Anthony Daniels, Actor (C-3PO in the “Star Wars” films), turns 66
1946	Alan Rickman, Actor, turns 66
1946	Tricia Nixon Cox, Daughter of President Nixon, turns 66
1947	Olympia Snowe, U.S. senator, R-Maine, turns 65
1949	Jerry Harrison, Rock musician (Talking Heads), turns 63
1953	Christine Ebersole, Actress, turns 59
1953	William Petersen, Actor (“C.S.I.”), turns 59
1958	Mary Chapin Carpenter, Country singer, turns 54
1958	Jack Coleman, Actor (“Heroes”), turns 54
1961	Christopher Atkins, Actor, turns 51
1961	Ranking Roger, Rock singer (General Public, English Beat), turns 51
1963	William Baldwin, Actor, turns 49
1979	Jennifer Love Hewitt, Actress (“Ghost Whisperer”), turns 33
1986	Charlotte Church, Singer, turns 26
1983	Braylon Edwards, Football player, turns 29
1987	Ellen Page, Actress (“Juno”), turns 25
1989	Corbin Bleu, Actor (“High School Musical”), turns 23

 

Historic Birthdays

Andres Segovia 2/21/1893 – 6/2/1987 Spanish guitarist.Go to obituary »

82	Friedrich Karl von Savigny 2/21/1779 – 10/25/1861 German jurist and legal scholar
82	Antonio Lopez Santa Anna 2/21/1794 – 6/21/1876 Mexican army officer, statesman and politician
89	John Henry Newman 2/21/1801 – 8/11/1890 Eng. Churchman
79	Pierre Laffitte 2/21/1823 – 1/4/1903 French philosopher
54	Leo Delibes 2/21/1836 – 1/16/1891 French opera and ballet composer
81	Constantin Brancusi 2/21/1876 – 3/16/1957 Romanian abstract sculptor
56	Harry Stack Sullivan 2/21/1892 – 1/14/1949 American psychiatrist and teacher
73	Anais Nin 2/21/1903 – 1/14/1977 French-bn. American author
73	Tom Yawkey 2/21/1903 – 7/9/1976 American sportsman and owner of the Boston Red Sox (1933-76)
66	W. H. Auden 2/21/1907 – 9/29/1973 English-bn. American poet and writer

 

Updated February 19, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.
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On Feb. 20, 1902, Ansel Adams, the photographer noted for his landscapes of the American West, was born. Following his death on April 22, 1984, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1790	Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died.
1792	President George Washington signed an act creating the U.S. Post Office.
1809	The Supreme Court ruled that the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state.
1839	Congress prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia.
1862	William Wallace Lincoln, the 11-year-old son of President Abraham Lincoln and first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, died at the White House, apparently of typhoid fever.
1895	Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died.
1938	British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden resigned in protest over Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s decision to negotiate with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
1944	During World War II, U.S. bombers began raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that became known as “Big Week.”
1965	The Ranger 8 spacecraft crashed on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.
1998	American Tara Lipinski became at age 15 the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title at Nagano, Japan.
2003	Fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.
2005	Journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson shot himself to death at age 67.
2010	Alexander Haig, a soldier and statesman who’d held high posts in three Republican administrations and some of the U.S. military’s top jobs, died at age 85.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns 70 years old today.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander turns 29 years old today.

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

1924	Gloria Vanderbilt, Fashion designer, turns 88
1927	Sidney Poitier, Actor, turns 85
1937	Nancy Wilson, Jazz singer, turns 75
1941	Buffy Sainte-Marie, Folk singer, turns 71
1942	Phil Esposito, Hockey Hall of Famer, turns 70
1943	Mike Leigh, Director, turns 69
1946	Sandy Duncan, Actress, turns 66
1946	J. Geils, Rock musician, turns 66
1950	Walter Becker, Rock musician (Steely Dan), turns 62
1951	Gordon Brown, Former British prime minister, turns 61
1954	Anthony Stewart Head, Actor (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), turns 58
1963	Charles Barkley, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 49
1964	French Stewart, Actor (“3rd Rock from the Sun”), turns 48
1966	Cindy Crawford, Model, turns 46
1967	Andrew Shue, Actor (“Melrose Place”), turns 45
1967	Lili Taylor, Actress, turns 45
1975	Livan Hernandez, Baseball player, turns 37
1977	Stephon Marbury, Basketball player, turns 35
1988	Rihanna, Singer, turns 24

 

Historic Birthdays

Ansel Adams 2/20/1902 – 4/22/1984 American photographer.Go to obituary »

92	Mary Garden 2/20/1874 – 1/3/1967 Scottish-bn. American opera singer
60	Georges Bernanos 2/20/1888 – 7/5/1948 French novelist and polemical writer
53	Jimmy Yancey 2/20/1898 – 9/17/1951 American blues pianist
93	Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney 2/20/1899 – 12/13/1992 American businessman
81	Rene Dubos 2/20/1901 – 2/20/1982 French-born American microbiologist, environmentalist and author
73	Louis Kahn 2/20/1901 – 3/17/1974 American architect
76	Aleksey Kosygin 2/20/1904 – 12/18/1980 Russian statesman and premier of the Soviet Union (1964-80)
82	Konstantin Sergeyev 2/20/1910 – 4/1/1992 Russian ballet dancer, director, and choreographer

 

Updated February 18, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 19, 1945, during World War II, some 30,000 United States Marines landed on the Western Pacific island of Iwo Jima, where they encountered ferocious resistance from Japanese forces. The Americans took control of the strategically important island after a month-long battle.

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On Feb. 19, 1912, Stan Kenton, the American bandleader who was an innovator in the progressive jazz style of the 1950’s, was born. Following his death on Aug. 25, 1979, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1473	The astronomer Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.
1878	Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph.
1881	Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
1945	Some 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima and began a month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces during World War II.
1959	An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey and Greece granting Cyprus its independence.
1997	Deng Xiaoping, the last of China’s major Communist revolutionaries, died in Beijing at age 92.
2004	Former Enron Corp. chief executive Jeffrey Skilling was charged with fraud, insider trading and other crimes in connection with the energy trader’s collapse.
2007	New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions to gay couples.
2008	An ailing Fidel Castro resigned the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power.
2010	Golfer Tiger Woods admitted infidelity and acknowledged receiving therapy.
2010	The FBI concluded that Army scientist Bruce Ivins acted alone in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, and formally closed the case.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

R&B singer, songwriter Smokey Robinson turns 72 years old today.

AP Photo/Matt Sayles

Rock singer Seal turns 49 years old today.

AP Photo/Darron Cummings

1948	Tony Iommi, Rock musician (Black Sabbath), turns 64
1952	Amy Tan, Author, turns 60
1955	Jeff Daniels, Actor, turns 57
1957	Ray Winstone, Actor, turns 55
1959	Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, turns 53
1960	Prince Andrew, Member of the British royal family, turns 52
1962	Hana Mandlikova, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 50
1966	Justine Bateman, Actress (“Family Ties”), turns 46
1967	Benicio Del Toro, Actor, turns 45
1985	Haylie Duff, Singer, actress (“7th Heaven”), turns 27

 

Historic Birthdays

Stan Kenton 2/19/1912 – 8/25/1979 American jazz bandleader, pianist and composer.Go to obituary »

70	Nicolaus Copernicus 2/19/1473 – 5/24/1543 Polish astronomer
61	David Garrick 2/19/1717 – 1/20/1779 English actor, producer, dramatist and comanager of the Drury Lane Theatre
62	Luigi Boccherini 2/19/1743 – 5/28/1805 Italian composer and cellist
73	Elie Ducommun 2/19/1833 – 12/7/1906 Swiss writer, editor and Nobel Peace Prize winner
82	Rudolf Stammler 2/19/1856 – 4/25/1938 German jurist and teacher
68	Svante Arrhenius 2/19/1859 – 10/2/1927 Swedish Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist
68	Merle Oberon 2/19/1911 – 11/23/1979 English/American film actress
81	Eddie Arcaro 2/19/1916 – 11/14/1997 American jockey
50	Carson McCullers 2/19/1917 – 9/29/1967 American author

 

Updated February 17, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 18, 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

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On Feb. 18, 1848, Louis Comfort Tiffany, a craftsman and designer who made significant advancements in the art of glassmaking, was born. Following his death on Jan. 17, 1933, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1546	Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation, died in Eiselben, Germany.
1564	The artist Michelangelo died in Rome.
1885	“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain was published.
1930	Photographic evidence of Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
1960	The eighth Winter Olympic Games opened in Squaw Valley, Calif.
1970	Five of the Chicago Seven defendants were found guilty of intent to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic national convention. (The convictions were later overturned.)
1972	The California Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty.
1977	The space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden flight above the Mojave Desert.
1988	Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
2001	Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr., 49, died from injuries suffered in a crash at the Daytona 500.
2001	Veteran FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested, accused of spying for Russia for more than 15 years. (Hanssen pleaded guilty and is serving life in prison without parole.)
2006	American Shani Davis won the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating in Turin, becoming the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.
2006	A Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament was sworn in.
2010	Software engineer A. Joseph Stack III crashed his single-engine plane into a building containing IRS offices in Austin, Texas, killing one person besides himself..

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Artist-singer Yoko Ono turns 79 years old today.

AP Photo/Joel Ryan

Actor John Travolta turns 58 years old today.

AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

1922	Helen Gurley Brown, Author, editor, turns 90
1925	George Kennedy, Actor, turns 87
1927	John Warner, Former U.S. senator, R-Va., turns 85
1931	Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize winning author, turns 81
1932	Milos Forman, Director, turns 80
1941	Herman Santiago, Singer (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers), turns 71
1941	Irma Thomas, Soul singer, turns 71
1947	Dennis DeYoung, Rock singer (Styx), turns 65
1948	Sinead Cusack, Actress, turns 64
1950	Cybill Shepherd, Actress, turns 62
1952	Juice Newton, Singer, turns 60
1957	Vanna White, Game show host (“Wheel of Fortune”), turns 55
1960	Greta Scacchi, Actress, turns 52
1964	Matt Dillon, Actor, turns 48
1965	Dr. Dre, Rapper, turns 47
1968	Molly Ringwald, Actress (“Pretty in Pink, “The Breakfast Club”), turns 44

 

Historic Birthdays

Louis Comfort Tiffany 2/18/1848 – 1/17/1933 American painter, decorator and designerGo to obituary »

42	Mary (Mary I) Tudor 2/18/1516 – 11/17/1558 English queen (1553-58)
82	Alessandro Volta 2/18/1745 – 3/5/1827 Italian physicist and inventor
65	James Biddle 2/18/1783 – 10/1/1848 American career naval officer
50	Ramakrishna 2/18/1836 – 8/16/1886 Hindu religious leader
63	Max Klinger 2/18/1857 – 7/5/1920 German painter, sculptor and engraver
77	Charles M. Schwab 2/18/1862 – 9/18/1939 American entrepreneur who pioneered Bethlehem Steel
52	Wendell Willkie 2/18/1892 – 10/8/1944 American Republican presidential candidate
25	George Gipp 2/18/1895 – 12/14/1920 American football player (“The Gipper”)
90	Enzo Ferrari 2/18/1898 – 8/14/1988 Italian automobile manufacturer, designer and racing-car driver
85	Sir Arthur Bryant 2/18/1899 – 1/2/1985 English historian and biographer
84	Wallace Stegner 2/18/1909 – 4/13/1993 American author

 

Updated February 16, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 17, 1972, President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.

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On Feb. 17, 1874, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the American industrialist who built I.B.M., was born. Following his death on June 19, 1956, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1865	Columbia, S.C., burned as the Confederates evacuated and Union forces moved in.
1904	Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly” had its world premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy.
1933	Newsweek magazine was first published.
1947	The Voice of America began broadcasting to the Soviet Union.
1972	President Richard M. Nixon departed on a historic trip to China.
1976	The Eagles’ album “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)” was released.
1992	Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.
1995	Colin Ferguson was convicted of six counts of murder in the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings that also wounded 19 people.
1996	World chess champion Garry Kasparov beat IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue,” winning a six-game match in Philadelphia.
2002	The new Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of aviation security from the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.
2005	President George W. Bush named John Negroponte to be the first national intelligence director.
2008	Kosovo declared itself a nation in defiance of Serbia and Russia.
2009	President Barack Obama signed a $757 billion economic stimulus package into law..

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns 31 years old today.

AP Photo/Kristian Dowling

Actor Chord Overstreet (“Glee”) turns 23 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg

1925	Hal Holbrook, Actor, turns 87
1934	Dame Edna, Comedian, turns 78
1935	Johnny Bush, Country singer, turns 77
1936	Jim Brown, Football Hall of Famer, turns 76
1939	Mary Ann Mobley, Actress, turns 73
1954	Rene Russo, Actress, turns 58
1962	Lou Diamond Phillips, Actor, turns 50
1963	Michael Jordan, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 49
1963	Larry the Cable Guy, Actor, comedian (“Blue Collar TV”), turns 49
1964	Michael Bay, Director, turns 48
1971	Denise Richards, Actress, turns 41
1972	Billie Joe Armstrong, Rock musician (Green Day), turns 40
1974	Jerry O’Connell, Actor, turns 38
1981	Paris Hilton, Heiress, turns 31

 

Historic Birthdays

Thomas J. Watson, Sr. 2/17/1874 – 6/19/1956 American industrialist who built IBM.Go to obituary »

59	Arcangelo Corelli 2/17/1653 – 1/8/1713 Italian violinist and composer
34	Gustavo Adolfo Becquer 2/17/1836 – 12/22/1870 Spanish poet and author
70	A. Montgomery Ward 2/17/1843 – 12/7/1913 American mail-order merchant
76	Andrew B. Paterson 2/17/1864 – 2/5/1941 Australian poet, journalist and songwriter
54	Andre Maginot 2/17/1877 – 1/7/1932 French statesman for whom Maginot Line was named
85	H. L. Hunt 2/17/1889 – 11/29/1974 American oil tycoon
76	Hans J. Morgenthau 2/17/1904 – 7/19/1980 German-bn. American political scientist and historian
84	Red Barber 2/17/1908 – 10/22/1992 American baseball broadcaster
75	Arthur Kennedy 2/17/1914 – 1/5/1990 American character actor
47	Huey P. Newton 2/17/1942 – 8/22/1989 American activist who co-founded the Black Panthers

 

Updated February 15, 2012, 1:28 pm

On Feb. 16, 1923, the burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.

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On Feb. 16, 1893, Katharine Cornell, the American stage actress who was called “the first lady of the American theater”, was born. Following her death on June 9, 1974, her obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

By The Associated Press

1804	Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates.
1862	Some 14,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered at Fort Donelson, Tenn., to Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
1868	The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.
1918	Lithuania proclaimed its independence.
1923	The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen’s recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.
1937	Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.
1945	American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.
1948	NBC-TV aired the first nightly newscast, “The Camel Newsreel Theatre,” which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.
1968	The nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Ala.
2005	The Kyoto global warming pact, which the U.S. never ratified, went into effect.
2005	The NHL canceled what was left of its season after a round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over a salary cap – the issue that led to a lockout.
2009	A 200-pound chimpanzee severely mauled its owner’s friend before being shot dead by police in Stamford, Conn.
2011	Bookstore chain Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Current Birthdays

By The Associated Press

Actor-rapper Ice-T (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) turns 54 years old today.

AP Photo/Jessica Rinaldi

Actress Elizabeth Olsen (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) turns 23 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

1918	Patty Andrews, Singer (The Andrews Sisters), turns 94
1952	James Ingram, R&B singer, turns 60
1957	LeVar Burton, Actor, turns 55
1959	John McEnroe, Tennis Hall of Famer, turns 53
1961	Andy Taylor, Rock musician (Duran Duran), turns 51
1971	Sarah Clarke, Actress (“Twilight,” “24”), turns 41
1972	Jerome Bettis, Football player, turns 40

 

Historic Birthdays

Katharine Cornell 2/16/1893 – 6/9/1974 American stage actress.Go to obituary »

68	Frederick William 2/16/1620 – 5/9/1688 Elector of Brandenburg (1640-88)
73	Giambattista Bodoni 2/16/1740 – 11/29/1813 Italian printer who designed several typefaces
63	Henry Wilson 2/16/1812 – 11/22/1875 Vice President of the United States (1873-75)
64	Nikolay Semyonovich Leskov 2/16/1831 – 3/5/1895 Russian novelist and short-story writer
80	Henry Adams 2/16/1838 – 3/27/1918 American historian and author
89	Henry Martyn Leland 2/16/1843 – 3/26/1932 American engineer and manufacturer
85	Wilhelm Schmidt 2/16/1868 – 2/10/1954 German anthropologist and Roman Catholic priest
67	Robert Flaherty 2/16/1884 – 7/23/1951 American explorer and filmmaker
75	Edgar Bergen 2/16/1903 – 9/30/1978 American ventriloquist and comedian