Category: Today’s Birthday

Bird was an American basketball player. After spending most of his collegiate career at Indiana State University, he was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1978 and became a perennial all-star. He led the Celtics to three championships and was named the league’s most valuable player as many times. He retired after winning gold with the 1992 US Olympic “Dream Team.” What future rival did Bird face in a college basketball championship game and then again in three professional championship series? Discuss

Widely considered the father of photojournalism, Eisenstaedt began creating photo essays in Berlin during the 1920s. He emigrated to the US in 1935 and joined the original photography staff at Life magazine. Soon Eisenstaedt came to epitomize the magazine’s style with his topically important and beautifully composed photographs and his candid portraits of the great and the anonymous. His most famous photograph is of the joyous Times Square kiss of a sailor and a nurse on what day? Discuss

A mathematical prodigy, Painlevé embarked on a career devoted to science, but he turned to politics after the Dreyfus Affair sparked his interest. In World War I, he held several French cabinet posts and was briefly premier in 1917. He was premier again in 1925 and was later minister of war and minister of aviation. In mathematics, Painlevé ranked among the best minds of his time, and he made important contributions in the field of differential equations. What are the Painlevé transcendents? Discuss

Butler was a British novelist and critic. Descended from clergymen, he grappled for years with Christianity and evolution in his writings, first embracing, then rejecting, Charles Darwin’s theories. He is best known for his autobiographical novel The Way of All Flesh. During his lifetime, his reputation rested on the utopian satire Erewhon (1872), which foreshadowed the end of the Victorian illusion of eternal progress. What prediction did Butler make about human evolution? Discuss

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, McClellan was placed in command of the Union forces in Ohio. Appointed general-in-chief of the army by President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, he cautiously conducted the Peninsular Campaign but failed to take Richmond. At the Battle of Antietam, he failed to destroy Robert E. Lee’s army, and Lincoln removed him from command. In 1864, he was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president against Lincoln. What did Lee once say about McClellan? Discuss

A German painter and printmaker, Dix fought in World War I and returned haunted by what he had witnessed. After experimenting with Impressionism and Dada, he arrived at Expressionism and began producing works depicting nightmarish scenes of the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society. His antimilitary works aroused the wrath of the Nazi regime and he was dismissed from his academic posts in 1933. On what charges was he arrested in 1939? Discuss

Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer known for his smooth vocal style. He began singing in his church choir at the age of seven and later sang with local Chicago groups. Though he was pronounced dead after a severe car accident in 1958 that left him in a coma for several days, he recovered and went on to enjoy a successful career, winning multiple Grammy Awards and selling more than 40 million records. Who once credited Rawls with having the “silkiest chops in the singing game”? Discuss

Chisholm was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1968, becoming the first African-American woman to serve in Congress. During her 15 years in the House, she was known for her strong, liberal views, including her opposition to US involvement in the Vietnam War and her advocacy of employment programs. As a candidate for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, she won 152 delegates before withdrawing from the race. How many assassination attempts did she survive during her campaign? Discuss

Cixi was the Imperial consort who controlled the Chinese Qing dynasty for almost half a century. A low-ranking concubine of the Xianfeng emperor, she bore his only son, the future Tongzhi emperor, in 1856. After the emperor’s death, Cixi joined a triumviral regency that governed in the name of her son, who was only six at his accession. During that period, the Taiping and Nian rebellions were put down and the government was briefly revitalized. What happened when Cixi’s son died in 1875? Discuss

Blake was an English poet and artist. Trained as an engraver, he opened a print shop in 1784 and developed an innovative technique for engraving illustrations and text on the same plate and for producing colored engravings. Blake’s paintings, engravings, and illustrated books of poetry feature detailed images of realistic natural forms as well as fanciful creatures. He lived on the edge of poverty, was considered mad, and died in neglect. When did he finally gain recognition as a visionary? Discuss