Birthday Deaths

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:08:53 +0000

Sir Thomas Browne

Born on October 19, 1605. This English author and encyclopedist graduated from University of Leiden in 1633 with a medical degree and established his practice in Norwich, where he lived until his death. His writings, such as “Religio Medici” display his deep Christian faith and reflect his wide learning and profound interest towards the natural world. He died on his 77th birthday in 1682.

Ingrid Bergman

Swedish actress and the mother of Isabella Rossellini, born August 29, 1915. She won Oscars for her leading role in “Gaslight” (1944) and “Anastasia” (1956) and for her supporting role in “Murder on the Orient Express” (1975), but her most recognizable role would be in the classic film Casablanca (1942). She died on her 67th birthday in August 29, 1982 after a long battle with breast cancer.

Kamehameha V

Born as Lot Kapuiwa on December 11, 1830 and ruled as King of Hawaii from 1863 until his death on his 42nd birthday in 1872. During his reign, an unprecedented growth in travel to the islands increased, which included visits by Mark Twain and Alfred Ernest Albert, Queen Victoria’s second son.

Machine Gun Kelly

A notorious American gangster, born George Kelly Barnes on July 18, 1895. He was guilty of crimes that included bootlegging, armed robbery and kidnapping; and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1933. He eventually died of of heart attack on his 59th birthday in Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas in 1954.

Pompey the Great

An ambitious Roman military leader born September 29, 106 BC. In his attempt to dominate the affairs of the Roman Republic, he confronted Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus that ended in his defeat. He would later flee to Egypt where he was betrayed and murdered by Ptolemy XIII on his 58th birthday in 48 BC.

Corrie ten Boom

A Dutch reformed Christian preacher, born in Amsterdam on April 15, 1892. She survived the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany, where she returned after the war to do itinerant preaching for many years. This rather remarkable lady even forgave one of the cruelest former camp guards who approached her during one of her sermons, an event she recounted in her book “Tramp for the Lord.” She died on her 91st birthday in 1983.

Sir Walter Haworth

The 1937 Nobel Prize Laureate for Chemistry, born on March 19, 1883 and died on his 67th birthday in 1950, two years after being knighted. He is most famous for his groundbreaking work on ascorbic acid or Vitamin C, the first vitamin to be synthesized.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.

Born on August 17, 1914. The son of the 32nd President of the United States, this naval officer was decorated for his bravery in the Battle of Casablanca in World War II; and also served as a member of the US Congress representing New York’s 20th District from 1949 to 1954. He died of lung cancer on his 74th birthday in 1988.

Harriet Brooks

Born on New Year’s Day of 1876 and was regarded as one of the foremost women of her time in her field, next only to Marie Curie. This first ever Canadian woman nuclear physicist was best known for her work on radioactivity and nuclear transformation at McGill University under the mentorship of Ernest Rutherford, with whom she also did research on electromagnetism to become the first woman at McGill to earn a Master’s degree. She died on her 57th birthday in 1933.

Johannes Hevelius

A German politician and lawyer, born on January 28, 1611. As an astronomer, he proved his ability to excel using older instruments like quadrants and alidade, becoming the last astronomer to do major works without telescopes. He also made observations of sunspots, discovered a number of comets, named some constellations and charted the surface of the moon, earning him the title “the founder of lunar topography.” He died on his 76th birthday in 1687 and was interred in St. Catherine’s Church in Danzig.

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Socyberty » Kamehameha V