August 7 Dateline

Birthdays

1903 - Louis Leakey (born Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey), British archaeologist and paleoanthropologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai Gorge with his wife, fellow paleontologist Mary Leakey. Having established a program of palaeoanthropological inquiry in eastern Africa, he also motivated many future generations to continue this scholarly work. Another Leakey legacy stems from his role in fostering field research of primates in their natural habitats, which he saw as key to understanding human evolution. He focused on three female researchers, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas, calling them "The Trimates". Each went on to become an important scholar in the field of primatology. Leakey played a role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there.

1925 - M.S. Swaminathan (born Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan), Indian geneticist and administrator, known for his role in India's Green Revolution, a program under which high-yield varieties of wheat and rice were planted. Swaminathan has been called the "Father of Green Revolution in India". He is the founder of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, a strong advocate environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity, which he calls an "evergreen revolution." Among other roles, he served as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (1982–88) and became president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1988. In 1999, he was one of 3 Indians on Time's list of the 20 most influential Asian people of the 20th century.

1960 - David William Duchovny, American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for playing FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series The X-Files and writer Hank Moody on the television series Californication, both of which have earned him Golden Globe awards. Duchovny appeared in both X-Files films, the 1998 science fiction-thriller of the same name and the supernatural-thriller The X-Files: I Want to Believe. He executive-produced and starred in the historically based cop drama Aquarius (2015–16). Duchovny earned an A.B. in English literature from Princeton University, and an M.A. in English literature from Yale University, and has since published three books, Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale, Bucky F*cking Dent and Miss Subways.

1975 - Charlize Theron, South African and American actress and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. As of 2019, she is one of the world's highest-paid actresses. Theron has ventured into film production with her company Denver and Delilah Productions. She has produced numerous films, in many of which she had a starring role, including The Burning Plain, Dark Places, and Long Shot. Theron became an American citizen in 2007, while retaining her South African citizenship. She has been honored with a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1996 - Liam James, Canadian actor, known for his role as Noah Curtis in the 2009 film 2012, young Shawn Spencer on the USA Network television series Psych, and the lead character, Duncan, in 2013's The Way, Way Back. He starred as Jack Linden in AMC's The Killing and Adam Warren in ABC's The Family, playing the son of main characters. James has heterochromia iridum with one green and one blue eye.

Leftie:
Actor David Duchovny

 

 

More birthdays and historical events today, 7 August - On This Day. 

 

Historical Events

1485 - Henry Tudor, the Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII, father of Henry VIII and grandfather to Elizabeth I), lands at Milford Haven to claim the English throne. He beats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, ending any further argument. Richard is the last king of England to die on battlefield.

1944 - IBM donates the first U.S. automatic digital calendar to Harvard University. It weights 11,000 pounds (5,000 kg).

1947 - Norwegian marine biologist Thor Heyerdahl, after 101 days and a 4,350-mile (7,000 km) journey at sea, smashes his balsawood raft named Kon-Tiki, on a reef at Raroia proving that peoples of South America could have settled the islands of Polynesia.

1958 - Playwright Arthur Miller celebrates with his wife Marilyn Monroe the news that Washington's Court of Appeals has quashed his conviction for contempt of Congress for not releasing to it the names of suspected Communist writers.

1987 - American's Lynne Cox swims 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from Alaska to Siberia, making her the first person to swim from the U.S. to the Soviet Union. 

 

1989 - U.S. Congress passed an act, approving a resolution that designated August 7, 1989, as National Lighthouse Day, which protects all lighthouses, beacons, and buoys, and to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the "Act for the Establishment and support of Lighthouse, Beacons, Buoys and Public Piers." The occasion called for lighthouse grounds to be open to the public "when feasible." However, the designation was only for Aug. 7 that year, and so was a similar declaration in 2013.



Resources:

 
1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


(c) June 2007. Updated August 7, 2023. Tel. Inspired PenWeb.  All rights reserved.