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Today in History :: Saturday, 4 July 2009

Birthdays:
1546	Murat III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1574 - 95). The eldest son of Selim II, he succeeded his father as Sultan at the age of 28. His reign continued the decline of the Ottoman power which began under his predecessor Selim II, and had only been maintained by the genius of the all-powerful grand vizier Mahommed Sokolli. Born in Manisa, Turkey.
1753	Jean-Pierre-François Blanchard, balloonist. Made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel. Born in Les Andelys, France.
1790	Sir George Everest, military engineer, geodesist. Known for his relentless his pursuit of accuracy, making countless adaptations to surveying equipment, methods, and mathematics in order to minimise problems encountered in surveying such as the immense size and scope of his surveys, terrain, and weather conditions. He was the first person to record the height and location of Mount Everest and in 1865 the mountain known as Peak 15 was renamed Mount Everest in his honour. He was knighted in 1861. Born in Gwernvale, Brecknockshire, Wales.
1807	Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento. Condemned to death in 1834 for participating in the failed attempt to seize Genoa, but he escaped to South America where he learned guerrilla warfare tactics during liberation attempts in Brazil and Uruguay. He returned to Europe in 1849 with his small band of 'Red Shirts', and fought in Milan in the war of independence against Austria, but was again forced to leave Italy. He returned to Italy again in 1854 and assisted Mazzinian rebels to free Sicily from Neapolitan control during Italy's war of liberation, thus playing a key role in the reunification of Italy. Born in Nice, France.
1826	Stephen Foster, song writer. The preeminent American songwriter of his era. He is best known for his songs "Oh Susanna" and "Camptown Races". Born in Lawrenceville (now in Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, USA.
1858	Henrietta Leavitt, astronomer. Best known for her discovery of the relationship between period and luminosity in Cepheid variables, pulsating stars that vary regularly in brightness, in periods ranging from a few days to several months. Her greatest discovery came from her study of 1777 variable stars in the Magellanic Clouds when she determined the periods of 25 Cepheid variables and in 1912, she announced what has since become known as the famous period-luminosity relation. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
1872	Calvin Coolidge, 30th president (Republican) of the USA (1923 - 29). A former lawyer, he entered politics, becoming Governor of Massachusetts in 1919. He rose to national prominence in the same year when he used the state militia to end the Boston police strike, which gave him a reputation for decisive action. He became President of the USA on the death of Warren Harding in 1923 and won the admiration of the public for his work to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency following the scandals of the Harding administration. He is remembered for his aggressively pro-business policies. However his policies also encouraged the reckless stock market speculation of the late 1920s and left the nation unprepared for the economic collapse that followed. He is also known for his dry Yankee wit and his frugality with words. Born in Plymouth, Vermont, USA.
1885	Louis B. Meyer, motion picture executive. Co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM) and founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Born Eliezer Lazar Mayer in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus).
1902	Abe Saperstein, basketball promoter. Founder of the Harlem Globetrotters. He coached the team to win the world professional title in 1940 and the International Cup in 1943 and 1944. Born in London, England.
1927	Gina Lollobrigida, actress. Born in Subiaco, Italy.
1938	Bill Withers, blues singer (Lean on Me, Just The Two Of Us, Ain't No Sunshine). Born in Slab Fork, West Virginia, USA.
1946	Ron Kovic, disabled vietnam veteran. Co-screenwriter of "Born on 4th of July". Born in Ladysmith, Wisconsin, USA.
1948	Rene Arnoux, motor racing driver. Winner of 14 formula one grands prix. Born in Pontcharra, near Grenoble, France.
1963	Henri Leconte, tennis player. Born in Lille, France.
Deaths:
965 AD	Pope Benedict V, pope (964 - 965 AD). One of the shortest reigning Popes due to Holy Roman emperor Otto I not approving of the choice. He was exiled to Hamburg, Germany where he died (age unknown).
1826	John Adams, first vice President of the USA (1789 - 97), second president (Federalist) of the USA (1797 - 1801). Graduated in law from Harvard College in 1755 and became vice-president under George Washington in 1789. He is remembered as a somewhat ineffective president due to his cold manner, vanity, pride of opinion, and strong independence, and he consequently failed to command a following. He was the father of John Quincy Adams, sixth president (Democratic-Republican) of the USA (1825 - 29). Died in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA, aged 90.
1826	Thomas Jefferson, third president (Democratic-Republican) of the USA (1801 - 09). Principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was a vocal opponent of Great Britain's taxation of, and control over, the American colonies, and he argued that America's bonds to Great Britain and King George III were wholly voluntary. He subsequently began drafting, with four colleagues, a formal statement of the reasons for the colonies' impending break with Britain which eventually became the Declaration of Independence. Died in Monticello, Virginia, USA, aged 83.
1831	James Monroe, fifth president (Democratic-Republican) of the USA (1817 - 25). Best known for the Monroe Doctrine, delivered in his message to Congress in 1823, in which he proclaimed that the Americas should be free from future European colonisation and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs. It further stated the USA's intention to remain neutral in European wars and wars between European powers and their colonies. Died in New York City, USA, aged 73.
1910	Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer. Remembered for his observations of Mars and naming of the 'seas', 'continents', and 'channels'. He made extensive studies of comets, determining that their tails always pointed away from the sun due to a repulsive force from the sun, now known to be the solar wind. Died in Milan, Italy, aged 75.
1918	Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (b. Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov - Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Рома́нов), Emperor of Russia (1894 - 1917). Son of Emperor Alexander III. He ascended the throne in 1894 on the death of his father. Internal political tension during his reign led to the Russian Revolution of 1905, and in 1914, at the outbreak of war with Germany, he assumed the role of commander-in-chief of the Russian Army, which suffered a staggering loss of lives. He was forced to abdicate in 1917 and sought exile with his family in Tobolsk, Siberia until they were forced to move to Soviet-controlled Yekaterinburg following the Bolshevik Revolution. He was executed by firing squad, along with his family, by a band of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky. Died in Ekaterinburg, USSR, aged 60.
1934	Marie Curie (b. Maria Sklodowska), Polish-born French chemist, physicist. Known for her experiments, with husband Pierre, on uranium leading to the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. She shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903 with Pierre and their colleague Professor Henri Becquerel for research on the radiation phenomena discovered by Becquerel. She was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911 in recognition of her services to the advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium. She died of leukemia caused by her long exposure to radioactivity before the need for protection from radiation was known, in Savoy, near Sallanches, France, aged 66.
1942	Marcellin Boule, French geologist, paleontologist, physical anthropologist. Made extensive studies of human fossils from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East and reconstructed the first complete Neanderthal skeleton in 1908. Died in Montsalvy, France, aged 81.
1987	Bengt Strömgren, Swedish astrophysicist. Pioneered the present-day knowledge of gas clouds in space. He discovered relations between the gas density, the luminosity of the star, and the size of the 'Strömgren sphere' of ionized hydrogen around it. Died in Copenhagen, Denmark, aged 79.
2003	Barry White, singer, producer. Responsible for the creation of numerous hit soul and disco songs, including "I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby", "Never Never Gonna Give You Up", "Can't Get Enough of Your Love", "You're the First the Last My Everything". Died of kidney failure and hypertension in Los Angeles, California, USA, aged 58.
Events on this day:
1054	Chinese astronomers observe a supernova, visible in daylight for 23 days and at night for almost 2 years. It's believed the Crab Nebula is the remanant of this supernova.
1776	The US Continental Congress approves a declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United States of America.
1802	The US Military Academy officially opens at West Point, New York, USA.
1803	The Louisiana Purchase is announced. The USA purchases more than 2 million km² of territory from France for $15 million.
1827	Slavery is abolished in New York, USA.
1836	The US Territory of Wisconsin is formed.
1865	"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is published.
1876	The first public exhibition of the electric light takes place in San Francisco, USA.
1883	Buffalo Bill Cody presents his first wild west show in North Platte, Nebraska, USA.
1884	The Statue of Liberty, sculptured by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, is presented to the USA by France in recognition of their victory (with the help of the French) in the American War of Independence.
1918	Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman sultan, ascends the throne.
1934	Joe Louis wins his first professional boxing match.
1946	In the worst post-war pogrom, 42 returning Jewish survivors of Nazi genocide are killed in Kielce, Poland.
1950	Radio Free Europe makes its first broadcast.
1954	West Germany defeats Hungary 3 - 2 the win the fifth football World Cup in Bern, Switzerland.
1968	The USA launches the Explorer 38 satellite to measure galactic radio sources and study low frequencies in space.
1976	Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing most passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized earlier by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
1987	Nazi SS and Gestapo leader Klaus Barbie, known as "the Butcher of Lyon", responsible for sending thousands of people to the Auschwitz concentration camp, is convicted of 177 crimes against humanity by a French court.
1988	Stefan Edberg beats Boris Becker to win the Wimbeldon Mens Singles tennis championship.
1997	The Mars Pathfinder reaches the Martain atmosphere on a mission to study the Martian atmosphere and investigate the geology and chemical composition of the planet's rocks and soils.
1998	Japanese scientists launch Nazomi (Hope), becoming the third nation to send a vessel to Mars, on a mission to measure the interaction between the solar wind and Martian upper atmosphere.
2007	BBC correspondent Alan Johnston is released by kidnappers in Gaza after nearly four months in captivity.