Those born on this date are under the sign of Gemini. They include financier Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1794; social reformer Amelia Bloomer, for whom the undergarment was named, in 1818; poet Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the lyrics for "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," in 1819; financier and railroad developer Jay Gould in 1836; frontiersman James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok in 1837; detective novelist Dashiell Hammett in 1894; writer Rachel Carson in 1907; composer Harold Rome in 1908; U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey and actor Vincent Price, both in 1911; golfer Sam Snead in 1912; author Herman Wouk in 1915 (age 99); actor Christopher Lee in 1922 (age 92); former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1923 (age 91); writers Tony Hillerman in 1925 and Harlan Ellison in 1934 (age 80); jazz musician Ramsey Lewis and actor Lee Meriwether, both in 1935 (age 79); actors Louis Gossett Jr. in 1936 (age 78) and Bruce Weitz in 1943 (age 71); singer/songwriter Don Williams in 1939 (age 75); and actors Peri Gilpin in 1961 (age 53), Todd Bridges in 1965 (age 49) and Joseph Fiennes in 1970 (age 44).
On this date in history:
In 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg as the new capital of Russia.
In 1930, Richard Gurley Drew received a patent for his adhesive tape, which was later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape.
In 1937, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge was opened. An estimated 200,000 people crossed it the first day.
In 1941, after attacks by British ships and planes, the German battleship Bismarck sank 400 miles west of the French port of Brest.
In 1968, the U.S. nuclear submarine Scorpion disappeared in the Atlantic with 99 men aboard. (The wreckage was located months later.)
In 1990, Cesar Gaviria, 34, was elected president of Colombia after a campaign in which three candidates were killed. He vowed to make no deals with the cocaine cartels.
In 1992, hours after a Russian-brokered cease-fire went into effect in Bosnia, Serb guerrillas launched a surprise mortar bombardment on Sarajevo, killing at least 20 people and injuring up to 160 more waiting in lines to buy bread.
In 2004, a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld Oregon's law authorizing doctors to help their terminally ill patients commit suicide.
In 2006, an earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing approximately 5,000 people and leaving an estimated 200,000 homeless.
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down two decisions protecting employees from retaliation when complaining about discrimination in the workplace.
In 2012, police in Chicago said a wave of weekend shootings left a teenager dead and two-dozen people wounded, including a 6-year-old girl.
In 2013, authorities in Iraq said a series of car bombings killed at least 53 people and injured more than 100.
A thought for the day: "If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in." -- Rachel Carson
