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John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird

John Logie Baird (August 13 1888 – June 14 1946) was a Scottish engineer, who is best known for being the first person to demonstrate a working television.

Birth and education

Baird was born in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and educated at Larchfield School (which later merged to form the private Lomond School), Helensburgh; the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College (which later became the University of Strathclyde); and the University of Glasgow. His degree course was interrupted by the war and he never graduated.

Television experiments

In his first attempts to invent television, Baird experimented with the Nipkow disk and demonstrated that a semi-mechanical analogue television system was possible with the transmission of a static image of a ventriloquist's dummy in London in February 1924. This early system was highly primitive - images were difficult to view and transmitted only in shades of brown. On 30 October 1925 the first moving image was transmitted - the now famous grainy image of a ventriloquists dummy's head. Baird later transmitted the image of a local boy he had paid to take part in his experiments to a crowd of onlookers. Although the development of television was the result of work by many inventors (including Baird, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow and Boris Rosing; see Television: History), Baird is one of its foremost pioneers. He is generally credited with being the first person to produce a discernible image on a television screen, and went on to produce other advances in the field.Hastings,in East Sussex,UK claims to be the 'Birthplace of Television' as it was there he was living for health reasons when he did much of his research work into his Televisor...even blowing up a laboratory in the town centre in the process!Hastings would claim to be the place where television was first actually perfected and demonstrated.

First public demonstration

The first public demonstration was in the Selfridges department store in London. The system was also demonstrated to the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times on January 26 1926 in the Soho district of London.

Broadcasting

In 1927 Baird transmitted a signal over 438 miles of telephone line between London and Glasgow. He then set up the Baird Television Development Company Ltd, which in 1928 made the first transatlantic television transmission from London to New York and also made the first television programme for the BBC. He televised the first live transmission of the Epsom Derby in 1931. From 1929 onwards, the BBC broadcasted television programs using the Baird system, alternating the broadcasts with Marconi's broadcasts of electronic scanning system television signals during the 1930s. This setup continued until the company ceased broadcasts with the Baird system, much to Baird's protest, in 1937. Eventually, due to its many shortcomings, Baird's mechanical television system was replaced by the electronic television system described by A.A. Campbell-Swinton and later developed by Philo T. Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworykin.

Other inventions

Baird's numerous other developments demonstrate his particular talent at invention. He developed, in 1928, a primitive video recording device, which he dubbed Phonovision[http://www.tvdawn.com/tvimage.htm]. The system consisted of a Phonodisc, which was a 78rpm record that could play a 30 line video signal. His other developments were in fibre-optics, radio direction finding, infrared night viewing and radar. There still remain, however, questions about his exact contributions to the development of radar, for his wartime defense projects have never been officially acknowledged by the British government. According to Malcolm Baird, his son, what is known is that in 1926 Baird filed a patent for a device that formed images from reflected radio waves, a device remarkably similar to radar, and that he was in correspondence with the British government at the time. Much of the information regarding Baird's work in this area is just beginning to emerge. Baird made many other contributions to the field of television before and after his mechanical system fell into disfavor. In 1928 he demonstrated the first colour television and true stereoscopic television. In 1932 he was the first to demonstrate ultra-short wave transmission. In 1941 he demonstrated a 600 line HDTV colour system, and during 1944 he tried to persuade English authorities to adopt a 1000+ line colour system as standard. He also demonstrated a big screen television system at the London Coliseum, Berlin, Paris and Stockholm. Baird died in 1946 after suffering a stroke in February of that year. There is a working model of the Baird televisor in the London Science Museum.

See also


- Logie Awards - Australian television
- University of Strathclyde

External links


- [http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/baird.html Baird on DigitalCentury.com]
- [http://www.mztv.com/baird.html Mechanical TV: Baird Television]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/baird_logie.shtml Baird bio on BBC site]
- [http://www.terramedia.co.uk/documents/baird_televisor.htm How to build a Baird televisor] - also contains many detailed references to Baird's history
- [http://www.gizmohighway.com/pages/people/john_logie_baird.htm John Logie Baird - Gizmohighway Technology Guide]
- [http://www.nbtv.org Narrow Bandwidth Television Association] Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie Category:Television technology Baird, John Logie Baird, John Logie

1888

1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). In Germany, 1888 is known as the 1888 Year of Three Emperors.

Events


- January 3 - 91cm telescope first used at Lick Observatory
- January 12 - Blizzards in Dakota and Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas - 235 dead, many of which were children on their way home from school
- January 24 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
- January 26 - Australia celebrates the first centennary of European settlement.
- January 27 - In Washington, DC the National Geographic Society is founded.
- March 11 - The "Great Blizzard of '88" begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
- March 22 - The Football League is formed
- April 11 - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
- May 13 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
- May 28 - Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5-2
- June 3 - "Kingdom of Sedang" formed in modern-day Vietnam
- June 19 - In Chicago, Illinois, Republican Convention opens at Auditorium Building. General Benjamin Harrison & Levi Morton will win the nominations.
- July 27 - British parliament passes an act that permits bicycles on road on condition that they are equipped with a bell that should be rung while on the carriageway. The law is abolished 1930
- August 7 - The body of Martha Tabram was found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper
- August 31 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
- September 4 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
- September 6 - Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season - a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
- September 8 - In London, the body of Annie Chapman is found. She is generally considered the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
- September 8 - In England the first 6 Football League matches ever were played.
- September 30 - In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
- October 9 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1888: Democrat incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the overall popular vote, but is voted out of office because he loses in the Electoral College to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison.
- November 9 - In London the body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is typically considered the fifth and last of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders actually follow, but police attribute them to copycat killers.
- Gramophone patented by Emile Berliner
- Annie Besant organizes a match girl strike
- John Robert Gregg first published Gregg Shorthand
- Slavery abolished in Brazil
- Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates
- Susan B. Anthony organizes a congress for women's rights in Washington DC
- National library in Athens, Greece
- First railways in China
- Kodak camera increases the popularity of photography as a hobby.
- The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The film is two seconds (4 frames) in length.
- First sightings of the dolphin Pelorus Jack in Cook Strait, New Zealand

Births

January-March


- January 1 - Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (d. 1947)
- January 8 - Matt Moore, Irish-born actor (d. 1960)
- January 24 - Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (d. 1960)
  - Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer (d. 1958)
- February 2 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
- February 17 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
- February 19 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928)
- February 20 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
- February 25 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
- February 27 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
- March 1 - Ewart Astill, English cricketer (Leicestershire) (d. 1948)
- March 4 - Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
- March 10 - Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1966)
- March 12 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Ukrainian ballet dancer (d. 1950)
- March 17 - Frank Buck, big game hunter (d. 1950)
- March 26 - Elsa Brändström, Russian nurse (d. 1948)

April-June


- April 4 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1958)
- April 6 - Hans Richter, German filmmaker (d. 1976)
- April 18 - Duffy Lewis, Major League Baseball player (d. 1979)
- April 26 - Anita Loos, American writer (d. 1981)
- April 27 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
- May 10 - Karl Barth, Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
  - Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer (d. 1971)
- May 11 - Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
- May 17 - Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965)
- May 23 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
- May 25 - Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
- May 27 - Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
- June 3 - Tom Brown, American jazz musician (d. 1958)
- June 6 - Pete Wendling, American composer, pianist, and piano roll recording artist (d. 1974)
- June 9 - Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Australian illustrator (d. 1960)
- June 13 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese writer (d. 1935)
- June 24 - Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect (d. 1964)

July-October


- July 5 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1963)
- July 10 - Giorgio Chirico, Italian painter (d. 1978)
- July 16 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- July 17 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- July 22 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1973)
- July 23 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist (d. 1959)
- August 14 - John Logie Baird, Scottish inventor (d. 1946)
- August 16 - Armand J. Piron, American jazz musician (d. 1943)
- September 5 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India (d. 1975)
- September 6 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (d. 1969)
- September 12 - Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)
- September 16 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- September 26 - J. Frank Dobie, American folklorist and journalist (d. 1964)
- September 26 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- October 6 - Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)
- October 7 - Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)
- October 8 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- October 9 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician (d. 1938)
- October 16 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- October 16 - Paul Popenoe, American eugenicist (d. 1979)

November-December


- November 7 - Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- November 15 - Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian scientist (d. 1957)
- November 23 - Harpo Marx, American comedian (d. 1964)
- November 26 - Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born violinist and composer (d. 1964)
- November 30 - Ralph Hartley, American electronics researcher and inventor (d. 1970)
- December 4 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
- December 19 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963)
- December 28 - F.W. Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)

Deaths


- January 19 - Anton de Bary, German biologist (b. 1831)
- January 29 - Edward Lear, British artist and writer (b. 1812)
- February 3 - Henry Maine, British jurist (b. 1822)
- March 6 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (b. 1832)
- March 9 - German Emperor Wilhelm I (b. 1797)
- March 12 - Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (b. 1811)
- April 15 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
- April 15 - Father Damien, Belgian priest (b. 1811)
- June 15 - German Emperor Friedrich III (b. 1840)
- July 20 - Paul Langerhans, German pathologist and biologist (b. 1847)
- August 9 - Charles Cros, French poet (b. 1831)
- August 23 - Philip Henry Gosse, British scientist (b. 1810)
- August 24 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (b. 1822)
- October 16 - John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
- December 31 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)

Marriages


- January 1 - Elias Disney & Flora Disney
- April 11 - Henry Ford & Clara Jane Bryant
- May 2 - Josephus Daniels & Addie Worth Bagley
- September 5 - Billy Sunday & Helen Amelia Thompson
- September 11 - Robert Homans & Agnes Mary Josephine Mellon
- November 29 - Axel Blixen-Finecke & Bertha Henriette Marie Castenschiold
- December 20 - Charles Urban & Julia Avery Category:1888 ko:1888년 ms:1888 simple:1888 th:พ.ศ. 2431

1946

1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. (see link for calendar)

Events

January


- January 4 - Theodore Schurch becomes the last person to be executed for offences committed under the Treachery Act of 1940
- January 7 - Allied recognize Austrian republic with 1937 borders - the country is divided into four occupation zones
- January 10 - First meeting of the United Nations
- January 11 - Enver Hoxha declares the people's republic of Albania with himself as prime minister.
- January 11 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob's ashes go back to Colombia.
- January 16 - Charles de Gaulle resigns as a head of a French provisional government
- January 17
  - The UN Security Council holds its first session
  - Senator Dennis Chavez (D-NM) calls for a vote on an FEPC bill which called for the end to discrimination in the work place. A filibuster prevents it from passing.
- January 20 - Charles De Gaulle resigns as president of France
- January 25 - The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor
- January 28 - Bluenose founders on a Haitian reef
- January 29 - CIA established
- January 31 - Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

February

February
- February 1 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General.
- February 2 - Kingdom of Hungary becomes a republic.
- February 14 - The Bank of England nationalized
- February 14 - ENIAC (for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer"), the first general-purpose electronic computer, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania
- February 15 - Canada indicts 22 communist agents.
- February 24 - Juan Peron elected president of Argentina
- February 28 - In Philadelphia, strikers of General Electric and police clash

March


- March 2 - British troops withdraw from Iran according to treaty - Soviets do not.
- March 2 - Ho Chi Minh elected the President of North Vietnam
- March 4 - C.G.E. Mannerheim resigns from the post of president of Finland
- March 5 - In his speech in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill talks about Iron Curtain.
- March 6 - Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union. David Gilmour, the guitarist of Pink Floyd is born.
- March 9 - Juho Kusti Paasikivi becomes president of Finland
- March 10 - British troops begin withdrawal from Lebanon
- March 15 - Clement Attlee promises independence to India as soon as they can agree on constitution
- March 19 - Soviet Union and Switzerland reform diplomatic relations.
- March 19 - French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion become overseas départements of France
- March 22 - Transjordan gains independence
- March 29 - Gold Coast has an African majority in the parliament

April


- April 1 - 14-meter high tsunami strikes Hilo, Hawaii - 173 dead, thousands injured.
- April 1 - Formation of the Malayan Union.
- April 1 - Singapore becomes a Crown colony
- April 3 - Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside Manila in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
- April 7 - Syria's independence from France is officially recognised
- April 10 - In Japan, women vote for the first time in parliamentarian elections
- April 18 - USA recognizes Josip Broz Tito's government in Yugoslavia
- April 18 - Last meeting of League of Nations – it transfers its mission to United Nations and disbands itself.
- April 29 - Trial against war criminals begin in Tokyo – accused include Hideki Tojo, Shigenori Togo and Hiroshi Oshima.

May


- May 4 - Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 revolutionizes wine world.
- May 2 - Six prisoners unsuccessfully try to escape from the Alcatraz prison island
- May 7 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees.
- May 9 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates, and is succeeded by his son Humbert II.
- May 10 - Nehru elected leader of the Congress Party in India
- May 20 - In Britain, the House of Commons decides to nationalize mines.
- May 21 - Radiation accident in Los Alamos laboratory; Dr Louis Slotin saves his coworkers but receives a fatal dose of radiation. Incident is initially classified
- May 22 - Kingdom of Transjordan founded.
- May 25 - The parliament of Transjordan makes emir Abdullah their king.
- May 31 - Greece referendum supports return of monarchy

June-July


- June 2 - In a referendum Italians decide to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After this referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia was exiled. Women vote for the first time.
- June 6 - The Basketball Association of America is formed in New York City.
- June 8 - In Indonesia, Sukarno incites his supporters to fight Dutch colonial occupation
- June 9 - In Thailand, king Rama IX accedes the throne.
- June 10 - Italy declared republic
- June 13 - Humbert II of Italy leaves the country and goes into exile in Portugal; Alcide de Gasperi becomes head of state.
- June 17 - Tornado on the Detroit river - 17 dead
- July 4 - After over 425 years of Western Dominance , the Philippines achieves full independence.
- July 5 - Bikinis go on sale in Paris
- July 7 - Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American saint to be canonized.
- July 21 - Irgun bomb explodes in Jerusalem.
- July 22 - King David Hotel bombing: Irgun bombs King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British civil and military administration killing 90.
- July 25 - Nuclear testing: In the first underwater test of the atomic bomb, the surplus USS Saratoga is sunk near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean when the United States detonates the "Baker Day" device.
- July 25 - At Club 500 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis stage their first show as a comedy team.

August-November

November
- August 19 - Violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta – 3000 dead.
- August 25 - Ben Hogan wins PGA Championship
- September 4 - Street violence between Muslims and Hindus in Bombay.
- September 8 - Bulgaria declared a People's Republic after a referendum – King Simeon II leaves.
- September 28 - George II of Greece returns to Athens
- October 2 - Communists take over in Bulgaria
- October 13 - France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
- October 15 - Nuremberg Trials: Founder of the Gestapo and recently convicted Nazi war criminal, Hermann Göring, poisons himself hours before his scheduled execution.
- October 23 - United Nations' first meeting in Long Island.
- November 8 - Vietnamese riot in Haiphong and clash with French troops. French cruiser Suffren opens fire. 6000 Vietnamese killed.
- November 12 - Truce between Indonesian nationalist troops and Dutch army in Indonesia.
- November 12 - A branch of the Exchange National Bank in Chicago, Illinois opens the first ten drive-up teller windows.
- November 15 - Netherlands recognized Republic of Indonesia.
- November 19 - Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden joins the United Nations
- November 27 - Cold War: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeals to the United States and the Soviet Union to end nuclear testing and to start nuclear disarmament, stating that such an action would "save humanity from the ultimate disaster."

December


- December 11 - UNICEF founded.
- December 12 - United Nations severs relations with Franco's Spain and recommends the member countries to sever diplomatic relations
- December 12 - Leon Blum founds a government of socialist parties in France
- December 19 - Martial law in Vietnam
- December 22 - Havana Conference begins between US organized crime bosses in Havana, Cuba
- December 24 - France's Fourth Republic founded
- December 26 - Flamingo Hotel opens in Las Vegas.
- December 31 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims an end of hostilities in World War II.

Unknown dates


- The 20mm M61 Vulcan gatling gun is invented.
- Devil's Island penal colony closes permanently.
- Female suffrage in Belgium, Romania, Yugoslavia, Argentina and Canadian province of Quebec. First female police officers in Korea and Japan.
- Chinese Civil War intensifies between Kuomintang and Communist Party of China.
- First Tupperware sold in department and hardware stores.
- Grantley Adams becomes the premier of Barbados.
- Alcatraz Island prison riot.
- The British government takes emergency powers to deal with the balance-of-payments crisis.
- Eva Perón tours Spain, Italy and France on behalf of Argentina, a circuit called the Rainbow Tour.
- Breathalyzer machine for estimating blood alcohol concentration was invented.
- Howard Hyde Russell established the Anti-Saloon League.
- George Orwell writes Politics and the English Language

Births

January


- January 3 - John Paul Jones, English bassist (Led Zeppelin)
- January 5 - Diane Keaton, American actress
- January 6 - Syd Barrett, English guitarist and singer
- January 8 - Stanton Peele, American psychologist
- January 8 - Robby Krieger, American musician (The Doors)
- January 11 - Naomi Judd, American singer
- January 11 - John Piper, American theologian
- January 12 - George Duke, American musician
- January 14 - Harold Shipman, British serial killer
- January 16 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
- January 16 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian singer
- January 18 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
- January 19 - Dolly Parton, American singer and actress
- January 20 - David Lynch, American film director
- January 21 - Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (d. 2004)
- January 22 - Serge Savard, Canadian hockey player and executive
- January 24 - Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor
- January 26 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (d. 1999)
- January 31 - Terry Kath, American musician (d. 1978)

February-March


- February 6 - Jim Turner, American politician
- February 13 - Colin Matthews, British composer
- February 14 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
- February 14 - Gregory Hines, American dancer and actor (d. 2003)
- February 19 - Karen Silkwood, American activist (d. 1974)
- February 20 - Brenda Blethyn, English actress
- February 21 - Tyne Daly, American actress
- February 21 - Alan Rickman, English actor
- February 24 - Barry Bostwick, American actor
- February 25 - Franz Xaver Kroetz, German dramatist
- February 26 - Ahmed H. Zewail, Egyptian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Robin Cook, British politician (d. 2005)
- March 3 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
- March 6 - David Gilmour, English musician (Pink Floyd)
- March 7 - Peter Wolf, American musician (J Geils Band)
- March 8 - Linda Kelliher Samets, American entrepreneur
- March 12 - Liza Minnelli, American singer and actress
- March 15 - Bobby Bonds, baseball player and manager (d. 2003)
- March 17 - Georges J.F. Kohler, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1995)
- March 21 - Timothy Dalton, Welsh actor
- March 31 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1984)

April-May


- April 4 - Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade)
- April 7 - Colette Besson, French runner
- April 12 - Ed O'Neill, American actor
- April 16 - Margot Adler, American journalist
- April 19 - Tim Curry, British actor, vocalist, and composer
- April 25 - John Fox, British statistician
- April 25 - Talia Shire, American actress
- April 30 - King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden
- May 7 - Thelma Houston, American singer
- May 9 - Candice Bergen, American actress
- May 10 - Donovan Leitch, Scottish musician
- May 10 - Dave Mason, English musician (Traffic)
- May 11 - Robert Jarvik, American physicist and inventor
- May 17 - Udo Lindenberg, German musician
- May 18 - Reggie Jackson, baseball player
- May 19 - André the Giant, French professional wrestling (d. 1993)
- May 19 - Claude Lelièvre, Belgian Commissioner for Children Rights
- May 20 - Cher, American actress and singer
- May 22 - George Best, Irish footballer (d. 2005)
- May 23 - Frederik de Groot, Dutch actor
- May 26 - Mick Ronson, American guitarist (d. 1993)
- May 28 - K. Satchidanandan Malayalam poet
- May 29 - Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (d. 2000)
- May 30 - Candy Lightner, American founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving

June-July


- June 6 - Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer
- June 8 - Pearlette Louisy, Governor-General of St. Lucia
- June 12 - Harry Glasper, Football historian
- June 14 - Donald Trump, American real estate magnate
- June 15 - Noddy Holder, English singer (Slade)
- June 20 - Xanana Gusmao, first President of East Timor
- June 23 - Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher
- June 24 - Ellison Onizuka, astronaut (d. 1986)
- June 29 - Egon von Furstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (d. 2004)
- July 2 - Richard Axel, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 4 - Ed O'Ross, American actor
- July 6 - George Walker Bush, 43rd President of the United States
- July 6 - Sylvester Stallone, American actor
- July 9 - Bon Scott, Australian singer (AC/DC) (d. 1980)
- July 13 - Cheech Marin, American actor and comedian
- July 14 - John Wood, Australian actor
- July 15 - Linda Ronstadt, American singer and songwriter
- July 16 - Ron Yary, American football player
- July 22 - Danny Glover, American actor
- July 22 - Mireille Mathieu, French singer
- July 25 - Rita Marley, Jamaican singer
- July 30 - Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (d. 1994)

August


- August 3 - Jack Straw, British politician
- August 19 - Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
- August 19 - Beat Raaflaub, Swiss conductor
- August 20 - Ralf Hütter, German singer and musician (Kraftwerk)
- August 20 - N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman
- August 23 - Keith Moon, English drummer (The Who) (d. 1978)
- August 25 - Rollie Fingers, baseball player
- August 29 - Bob Beamon, American athlete

September


- September 4 - Gary Duncan, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
- September 4 - Greg Elmore, American drummer (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
- September 5 - Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer (Queen) (d. 1991)
- September 7 - Willie Crawford, baseball player (d. 2004)
- September 7 - Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist (d. 2001)
- September 9 - Bruce Palmer, Canadian musician (Buffalo Springfield) (d. 2004)
- September 10 - Jim Hines, American athlete
- September 10 - Don Powell, English drummer
- September 15 - Tommy Lee Jones, American actor
- September 15 - Oliver Stone, American film director
- September 21 - Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councilor
- September 23 - Franz Fischler, Austrian politician
- September 24 - Lars Emil Johansen, Prime Minister of Greenland
- September 26 - Christine Todd Whitman, American politician
- September 30 - Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican singer (d. 1993)

October


- October 1 - Tim O'Brien, American author
- October 6 - Lloyd Doggett, American politician
- October 6 - Renate Holub, German philosopher
- October 7 - Xue Jinghua, Chinese ballerina
- October 7 - Catharine MacKinnon, American feminist
- October 8 - Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian scholar
- October 8 - John T. Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton (d. 2005)
- October 9 - Tansu Ciller, Turkish politician
- October 10 - Anne Boyd, Australian musician
- October 10 - Naoto Kan, Japanese politician
- October 11 - Leona Gom, Canadian writer
- October 13 - Edwina Currie, English politician
- October 13 - Dorothy Moore, American singer
- October 14 - Justin Hayward, English singer and songwriter (Moody Blues)
- October 14 - Kay Redfield Jamison, American psychologist
- October 15 - Marsha Hunt, American singer and novelist
- October 16 - Suzanne Somers, American actress
- October 16 - Elizabeth Witmer, Dutch-born politician
- October 17 - Vicki Hodge, English actress
- October 17 - Bob Seagren, American athlete and actor
- October 18 - Howard Shore, Canadian film composer
- October 18 - Andrea Zsadon, Hungarian soprano
- October 20 - Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 20 - Andrea Mitchell, American journalist
- October 21 - Lyn Allison, Australian politician
- October 22 - Eileen Gordon, British politician
- October 24 - Gwyneth Powell, British actress
- October 25 - Edith Leyrer, Austrian actress
- October 26 - Pat Sajak, American game show host
- October 27 - Leslie L. Byrne, American politician
- October 27 - Ivan Reitman, Slovakian-born film director and producer
- October 27 - Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
- October 28 - Sharon Thesen, Canadian poet
- October 29 - Kathryn J. Whitmire, Mayor of Houston, Texas
- October 30 - Lynne Marta, American actress
- October 31 - Caroline Jackson, British politician

November


- November 1 - Marina Abramovic, Yugoslavian performance artist
- November 1 - Lynne Russell, American newsreader
- November 2 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (d. 2001)
- November 4 - Laura Bush, First Lady of the United States
- November 5 - Herman Brood, Dutch artist (d. 2001)
- November 5 - Loleatta Holloway, American singer
- November 5 - Gram Parsons, American musician
- November 6 - Sally Field, American actress
- November 7 - Diane Francis, Canadian journalist
- November 7 - Martin Barre, Musician (Jethro Tull)
- November 8 - Stella Chiweshe, Zimbabwe musician
- November 10 - Alaina Reed Hall, American actress
- November 11 - Corrine Brown, American politician
- November 12 - P.P. Arnold, English singer
- November 13 - Ohara Reiko, Japanese actess
- November 14 - Carola Dunn, English writer
- November 15 - Sandy Skoglund, American photographer
- November 17 - Petra Burka, Canadian figure skater
- November 18 - Andrea Allan, Scottish actress
- November 18 - Amanda Lear, Hong Kong singer
- November 19 - Terry Baum, American playwright
- November 20 - Greg Cook, American football player
- November 20 - Judy Woodruff, American television personality
- November 21 - Emma Cohen, Spanish actress
- November 21 - Pam Freeman, American actress
- November 21 - Chaviva Hosek, Czech-born feminist
- November 21 - Ulla Jessen, Danish actress
- November 21 - Jacky Lafon, Belgian actress
- November 21 - Marina Warner, English writer
- November 22 - Anne Wheeler, Canadian television and film director
- November 24 - Ted Bundy, American serial killer (d. 1989)
- November 25 - Marika Lindstrom, Swedish actress
- November 26 - Ottilia Borbath, Romanian actress
- November 27 - Nina Maslova, Russian actress
- November 28 - Regina Braga, Brazilian actress
- November 29 - Suzy Chaffee, American singer and actress
- November 30 - Barbara Cubin, U.S. Congresswoman from Wyoming

December


- December 2 - Gulsun Karamustafa, Turkish artist and film director
- December 2 - Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)
- December 3 - Marjana Lipovsek, Slovenian singer and actress
- December 3 - Joop Zoetemelk, Dutch cyclist
- December 4 - Sherry Alberoni, American actress
- December 4 - Angela Browning, British politician
- December 4 - You Inoue, Japanese voice actress (d. 2003)
- December 5 - José Carreras, Spanish tenor
- December 5 - Eva-Britt Svensson, Swedish politician
- December 6 - Chelsea Brown, American actress
- December 8 - Jacques Bourboulon, French photographer
- December 8 - Sharmila Tagore, Indian actress
- December 9 - Sonia Gandhi, Indian politician
- December 10 - Chrystos, American poet
- December 11 - Ellen Meloy, American writer (d. 2004)
- December 12 - Gloria Loring, American singer
- December 14 - Jane Birkin, English actress and singer
- December 14 - Patty Duke, American actress
- December 16 - Alice Aycock, American sculptor
- December 17 - Bel Mooney, English broadcast journalist
- December 18 - Nina Skottova, Czech politician and member of the European Parliament
- December 18 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
- December 19 - Candace Pert, American nueroscientist
- December 20 - Lesley Judd, English actress and television presenter
- December 20 - Dick Wolf, American television producer
- December 21 - Carl Wilson, American musician (d. 1998)
- December 23 - Edita Gruberova, Slovakian soprano
- December 24 - Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French pharmacist and politician and member of the European Parliament
- December 26 - Joyce Jillson, American astrologer (d. 2004)
- December 27 - Janet Street Porter, English broadcast journalist
- December 27 - Polly Toynbee, English journalist and writer
- December 29 - Marianne Faithfull, English singer and actress
- December 29 - Ruth Shady, Peruvian archaeologist
- December 30 - Patti Smith, American poet and singer
-

Scotland

Scotland (Alba in Gaelic) is a nation in northwest Europe and a constituent country of the United Kingdom. The name originally meant Land of the Gaels (see below). The country occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shares a land border to the south with England and is bounded by the North Sea on the east and the Atlantic Ocean on the west. Its capital city is Edinburgh. Despite no longer being an independent sovereign state, Scotland is still considered a country in its own right. Scotland existed as an independent Kingdom until 1 May 1707, when the Act of Union 1707 merged Scotland with the Kingdom of England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain. The flag of Scotland — the Saltire — is thought to be the oldest national flag still in use. The patron saint of Scotland is Saint Andrew, and Saint Andrew's Day is the 30 November. There are currently attempts to create an additional national holiday on this day.

Etymology

The English language name Scotland could date from at least the first half of the 10th century, when it was used in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The word Scot- was borrowed from Latin. We cannot assume Scotland was being used here to mean anything other than Land of the Gaels, just like Latin Scotia. Scottish kings adopted the title Basileus/Rex Scottorum (= High King/King of the Gaels) and Rex Scotiae (King of Gael-Land) some time in the 11th century. The earliest attribution of the latter Latin title was by the Germany-based Irish writer Marianus Scotus, recording the death of King Máel Coluim mac Cináeda as Moelcoluim Rex Scotiae, for the year 1034. In taking this title, they were likely influenced by the style Imperator Scottorum known to have been employed by Brian Bóruma in 1005. In the early 13th century, the Scotto-Norman author of de Situ Albanie protested that Scotia was a corrupt word for what should be called Albania; but by then Scotia was becoming the norm in Latin, French and English; and hence Scotia and its derivitives prevailed in all languages except the Celtic ones. The Kingdom of Scotland has traditionally been regarded as being united in 843, by Cináed mac Ailpín, King of the Picts, the man who is known to the modern English-speaker as King Kenneth I of Scotland.

History

See also the main article: History of Scotland. The written history of Scotland largely began with the arrival of the Roman Empire in Britain, when the Romans occupied what is now England and Wales, administering it as a Roman province called Britannia. To the north was territory not governed by the Romans—Caledonia, peopled by the Picts. From a classical historical viewpoint Scotland seemed a peripheral country, slow to gain advances filtering out from the Mediterranean fount of civilisation, but as knowledge of the past increases it has become apparent that some developments were earlier and more advanced than previously thought, and that the seaways were very important to Scottish history. The country's lengthy struggle with England, its more powerful neighbour to the south, was the cause of the Wars of Scottish Independence, forcing Scotland to rely on trade, cultural and often strategic ties with a number of European powers, most notably France. In these, the Scots repudiated the English king's assertions of paramountcy. They fought firstly under the leadership of Sir William Wallace and Andrew de Moray in support of John Balliol, and later under that of Robert the Bruce. Bruce, crowned as King Robert I in 1306, won a decisive victory over the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Battle of Bannockburn From roughly the end of the 14th century, Scotland began to show a split into two cultural areas — the mainly Scots, or English, speaking Lowlands, and the mainly Gaelic-speaking Highlands. Gaelic persisted in remote parts of the southwest, which had formed part of the rival kingdom of Galloway during the early medieval period, probably up until the late 1700s. Historically, the Lowlands were closer to the mainstream European culture, and adopted a variant of the feudal system after the Norman Conquest of England. A number of major families of Norman ancestry, such as the Bruce, Douglas, and Stewart families, provided most of the monarchs after approximately 1100. By comparison, the clan system of the Highlands formed one of the region's more distinctive features, with a number of powerful clans remaining dominant until after the Act of Union. It is worth noting that the Western Isles, along with Orkney and Shetland, were part of Norway until 1266 and 1468 respectively; the culture of these islands, in many ways, remained distinct from the rest of Scotland until the modern period. In 1603, the Scottish King James VI inherited the throne of England, and became James I of England. James moved to London, only returning to Scotland once. Although he subsequently styled himself as the King of Great Britain, this was a personal union: the two nations shared a head of state but remained separate kingdoms, with the exception of a brief period when Oliver Cromwell overthrew the monarchy and Scotland was under English military occupation. In 1707, the Scottish and English Parliaments enacted the Acts of Union, which merged the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Union dissolved both the English and the Scottish Parliaments, and transferred all their powers to a new Parliament sitting in London which then became the Parliament of the United Kingdom. However, most of Scotland's institutions remained separate, notably the country's legal system and its established church; these distinctions remain to the present day. In 1801, Scotland became part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, when the Kingdom of Great Britain merged with the Kingdom of Ireland. Since 1922, Scotland has been one of the four constituent nations (along with England, Northern Ireland and Wales) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In 1997 the people of Scotland voted to create a new devolved Scottish Parliament, subsequently established by the UK government under the Scotland Act 1998. Following the Act of Union and the subsequent Scottish Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, Scotland became one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Its industrial decline following the Second World War was particularly acute, but in recent decades the country has enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance, fuelled in part by a resurgent financial services sector, the proceeds of North Sea oil and gas, and latterly the devolved parliament.

Geography

Clan Grant Main article: Geography of Scotland. Scotland comprises the northern part of the island of Great Britain; it is bordered on the south by England. Scotland's territorial extent is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Exceptions include the Isle of Man, which is now a crown dependency outside the United Kingdom, Orkney and Shetland, which are Scottish rather than Norwegian, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, which was defined as subject to the laws of England by the 1746 Wales and Berwick Act. The country consists of a mainland area plus several island groups, including Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides, divided into the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides. Three main geographical and geological areas make up the mainland: from north to south, the generally mountainous Highlands containing Ben Nevis, Britain's highest mountain, the low-lying Central Belt, and the hilly Southern Uplands. The majority of the Scottish population resides in the Central Belt, which contains three of the country's six largest cities (Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Stirling) and many large towns. Most of the remaining population lives in the North-East Lowlands, where two of the remaining three cities (Aberdeen and Dundee) are situated. The final city, Inverness, is situated where the River Ness meets the Moray Firth, on the Great Glen Fault between the North-West Highlands and the Cairngorms. Highest maximum temperature: 32.9°C (91.2°F) at Greycrook, near Newtown St. Boswells, Borders on 9 August 2003. Lowest minimum temperature: -27.2°C (-17.0°F) at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 and at Altnaharra, Highland on 30 December 1995. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/scotland/#temperature]

Major cities

The six designated cities in descending order of population size:
- Glasgow
- Edinburgh, the capital
- Aberdeen
- Dundee
- Inverness
- Stirling Scottish towns:
- List of burghs in Scotland

Waterways


- Major Rivers:
  - The Clyde, The Dee, The Don, The Forth, The Tay, The Tweed, The Spey, ...
- Firths:
  - Solway, Clyde, Cromarty, Dornoch, Forth, Lorne, Moray, Tay
- Sea Lochs (fjords):
  - Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, Loch Long, Loch Etive, Loch Sunart, Loch Nevis, Loch Hourn, Loch Broom, Loch Eil
- Freshwater Lochs (lakes) include:
  - Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar, Loch Tay, Loch Rannoch, Loch Awe, Loch Shiel, Loch Maree, The Lake of Menteith
- Artificial & Enhanced waterways include:
  - Caledonian Canal, Crinan Canal, Forth and Clyde Canal, Union Canal
    - See Also Falkirk Wheel

Geology

When vulcanism actively occurred in East Lothian, 350 million years ago, the rocks which now comprise Scotland lay close to the equator, and formed part of the newly amalgamated supercontinent of Pangaea. The continental plates making up Pangaea continued to converge, and a major collision occurred with the continent of Gondwana. The northern and southern parts of the island of Great Britain became adjoined only 75 million years before the onset of vulcanism in East Lothian. Before then, Scotland lay on the margin of the Laurentian continent, which included North America and Greenland. England and Wales lay some 40° of latitude further south, adjacent to Africa and South America in the Gondwanan continent. In the Early