More on this Day - September, 7 (2024)

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Eazy-E

American musician

September 7, 1963 - March 26, 1995

Dr. Dre: …Wit Attitudes) with fellow rappers Eazy-E and Ice Cube. The group’s second album, Straight Outta Compton (1988), was a breakthrough for the nascent gangsta rap movement, featuring explicit descriptions...

Elizabeth I

queen of England

September 7, 1533 - March 24, 1603

Elizabeth I was the queen of England (1558–1603) during a period, often called the Elizabethan Age, when England asserted itself vigorously as a major European power in politics, commerce, and the arts....

Buddy Holly

American musician

September 7, 1936 - February 3, 1959

Buddy Holly was an American singer and songwriter who produced some of the most distinctive and influential work in rock music. Holly (the e was dropped from his last name—probably accidentally—on his...

Mobutu Sese Seko

president of Zaire

October 14, 1930 - September 7, 1997

Mobutu Sese Seko was the president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) who seized power in a 1965 coup and ruled for some 32 years before being ousted in a rebellion in 1997. Mobutu was...

Elia Kazan

American director and author

September 7, 1909 - September 28, 2003

Elia Kazan was a Turkish-born American film director and author noted for his successes on the stage—especially with plays by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller—as well as for his critically acclaimed...

Daniel Inouye

United States senator

September 7, 1924 - December 17, 2012

Daniel Inouye was an American Democratic politician who was the first U.S. representative of Hawaii (1959–63) and who later served as a U.S. senator (1963–2012). He was the first Japanese American to serve...

William Stewart Halsted

American surgeon

September 23, 1852 - September 7, 1922

William Stewart Halsted was an American pioneer of scientific surgery who established at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, the first surgical school in the United States. After graduating in 1877 from...

Sonny Rollins

American musician

September 7, 1930 -

Sonny Rollins is an American jazz musician, a tenor saxophonist who is among the finest improvisers on the instrument to appear since the mid-1950s. Rollins grew up in a neighbourhood where Thelonious...

Paul Brown

American football coach

September 7, 1908 - August 5, 1991

Paul Brown was an American gridiron football coach known for his cerebral approach, innovative methods, iron rule, and cool demeanour. Brown coached winning teams in high school, college, armed forces,...

Isak Dinesen

Danish author

April 17, 1885 - September 7, 1962

Isak Dinesen was a Danish writer whose finely crafted stories, set in the past and pervaded with an aura of supernaturalism, incorporate the themes of eros and dreams. Educated privately and at the Academy...

John Pierpont Morgan, Jr.

American financier

September 7, 1867 - March 13, 1943

John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. was an American banker and financier, the head of the Morgan investment banking house after the death of his father, John Pierpont Morgan, Sr. He graduated from Harvard University...

Doku Umarov

Chechen separatist and guerrilla leader

April 13, 1964 - September 7, 2013?

Doku Umarov was a Chechen separatist and guerrilla leader who declared himself emir of the so-called Islamic Caucasus Emirate, which comprised areas within the southwestern Russian republics of Dagestan,...

Grandma Moses

American artist

September 7, 1860 - December 13, 1961

Grandma Moses was an American folk painter who was internationally popular for her naive documentation of rural life in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Anna Robertson had only...

Sir Anthony Quayle

British actor

September 7, 1913 - October 20, 1989

Sir Anthony Quayle was a British actor and director who was well known for his roles in classic plays on the stage as well as for his motion-picture career. Quayle made his first stage appearance in 1931...

Baudouin I

king of Belgium

September 7, 1930 - July 31, 1993

Baudouin I was the king of the Belgians from 1951 to 1993, who helped restore confidence in the monarchy after the stormy reign of King Leopold III. The son of Leopold III and Queen Astrid, Baudouin shared...

Christy Brown

Irish writer

June 5, 1932 - September 7, 1981

Christy Brown was an Irish writer who overcame virtually total paralysis to become a successful novelist and poet. Brown was born with cerebral palsy, which left him unable to control any of his limbs...

A.J.P. Taylor

British historian and journalist

March 25, 1906 - September 7, 1990

A.J.P. Taylor was a British historian and journalist noted for his lectures on history and for his prose style. Taylor attended Oriel College, Oxford, graduating with first-class honours in 1927. In 1931...

Jacob Lawrence

American painter

September 7, 1917 - June 9, 2000

Jacob Lawrence was an American painter of the 20th century whose works, frequently done in series using tempera or gouache on paper or cardboard, portray scenes of Black life and history with vivid stylized...

Michael DeBakey

American surgeon

September 7, 1908 - July 11, 2008

Michael DeBakey was an American cardiovascular surgeon, educator, international medical statesman, and pioneer in surgical procedures for treatment of defects and diseases of the cardiovascular system....

Geoffrey IV

count of Anjou

August 24, 1113 - September 7, 1151

Geoffrey IV was the count of Anjou (1131–51), Maine, and Touraine and ancestor of the Plantagenet kings of England through his marriage, in June 1128, to Matilda (q.v.), daughter of Henry I of England....

Georges-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon

French naturalist

September 7, 1707 - April 16, 1788

Georges-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon was a French naturalist, remembered for his comprehensive work on natural history, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (begun in 1749). He was created a...

Pop Warner

American football coach

April 5, 1871 - September 7, 1954

Pop Warner was an American college gridiron football coach who devised the dominant offensive systems used over the first half of the 20th century. Over a 44-year career as coach (1895–1938), Warner won...

Elton Mayo

American psychologist

December 26, 1880 - September 7, 1949

Elton Mayo was an Australian-born psychologist who became an early leader in the field of industrial sociology in the United States, emphasizing the dependence of productivity on small-group unity. He...

David Packard

American engineer

September 7, 1912 - March 26, 1996

David Packard was an American electrical engineer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Hewlett-Packard Company, a manufacturer of computers, computer printers, and analytic and measuring equipment. After...

William Holman Hunt

British painter

April 2, 1827 - September 7, 1910

William Holman Hunt was a British artist and prominent member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His style is characterized by clear, hard colour, brilliant lighting, and careful delineation of detail....

John Greenleaf Whittier

American author

December 17, 1807 - September 7, 1892

John Greenleaf Whittier was an American poet and abolitionist who, in the latter part of his life, shared with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow the distinction of being a household name in both England and the...

José Clemente Orozco

Mexican painter

November 23, 1883 - September 7, 1949

José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican painter, considered the most important 20th-century muralist to work in fresco. Orozco first became interested in art in 1890, when his family moved to Mexico City. Going...

Beverley McLachlin

Canadian jurist

September 7, 1943 -

Beverley McLachlin is a Canadian jurist who was the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (2000–17) and the first woman to hold the post. She had joined the court in 1989. McLachlin, who was...

Todor Zhivkov

Bulgarian political leader

September 7, 1911 - August 5, 1998

Todor Zhivkov was the first secretary of the ruling Bulgarian Communist Party’s Central Committee (1954–89) and president of Bulgaria (1971–89). His 35 years as Bulgaria’s ruler made him the longest-serving...

Angela Gheorghiu

Romanian opera singer

September 7, 1965 -

Angela Gheorghiu is a Romanian operatic lyric soprano noted for her powerful voice and commanding stage presence. Gheorghiu early realized her love of singing, and she was supported by her family in working...

Abdurrahman Wahid

president of Indonesia

September 7, 1940 -

Abdurrahman Wahid was an Indonesian Muslim religious leader and politician who was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001. Wahid’s grandfathers were among the founders of the world’s largest Islamic...

Everett McKinley Dirksen

United States senator

January 4, 1896 - September 7, 1969

Everett McKinley Dirksen was a U.S. politician and leader of the Senate Republicans during the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Dirksen attended the University of Minnesota, left...

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

prime minister of United Kingdom

September 7, 1836 - April 22, 1908

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman was a British prime minister from December 5, 1905, to April 5, 1908. His popularity unified his own Liberal Party and the unusually strong cabinet that he headed. He took...

I.A. Richards

British critic and poet

February 26, 1893 - September 7, 1979

I.A. Richards was an English critic, poet, and teacher who was highly influential in developing a new way of reading poetry that led to the New Criticism and that also influenced some forms of reader-response...

Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis

Canadian politician

April 20, 1890 - September 7, 1959

Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis was a Canadian politician who controlled Quebec’s provincial government as its premier from 1936 until his death, except for the war years of 1940–44. Educated at Notre Dame...

August Kekule von Stradonitz

German chemist

September 7, 1829 - July 13, 1896

August Kekule von Stradonitz was a German chemist who established the foundation for the structural theory in organic chemistry. Kekule was born into an upper-middle-class family of civil servants and...

Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Baronet

British statesman

April 25, 1862 - September 7, 1933

Sir Edward Grey, 3rd Baronet was a British statesman whose 11 years (1905–16) as British foreign secretary, the longest uninterrupted tenure of that office in history, were marked by the start of World...

Laura Ashley

British designer

September 7, 1925 - September 17, 1985

Laura Ashley was a British designer known for her traditional, Victorian-style prints on natural fabrics, which she used to create household furnishings, linens, and women’s clothing. By the time of her...

Sidney Lanier

American poet

February 3, 1842 - September 7, 1881

Sidney Lanier was an American musician and poet whose verse often suggests the rhythms and thematic development of music. Lanier was reared by devoutly religious parents in the traditions of the Old South....

Bernard Shaw

American journalist

May 22, 1940 - September 7, 2022

Bernard Shaw was an American television journalist and the first chief anchor for the Cable News Network (CNN). Shaw’s childhood heroes included newsman Edward R. Murrow, whose television broadcasts inspired...

Rama I

king of Siam

March 21, 1737 - September 7, 1809

Rama I was a Siamese king (1782–1809) and founder of the Chakkri dynasty (q.v.), which reigns in Thailand. (Read Sir Walter Scott’s 1824 Britannica essay on chivalry.) Rama I was the son of a high court...

Edith Sitwell

British poet

September 7, 1887 - December 9, 1964

Edith Sitwell was an English poet who first gained fame for her stylistic artifices but who emerged during World War II as a poet of emotional depth and profoundly human concerns. She was equally famed...

James A. Van Allen

American physicist

September 7, 1914 - August 9, 2006

James A. Van Allen was an American physicist, whose discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts, two zones of radiation encircling Earth, brought about new understanding of cosmic radiation and its effects...

Al McGuire

American coach

September 7, 1928 - January 26, 2001

Al McGuire was an American collegiate basketball coach who was a master at game coaching. McGuire learned the game in the hard school of Queens street basketball. He later played for St. John’s Preparatory...

Thomas A. Hendricks

vice president of United States

September 7, 1819 - November 25, 1885

Thomas A. Hendricks was a long-time Democratic Party politician and the 21st vice president of the United States (March 4–November 25, 1885) in the administration of President Grover Cleveland. Hendricks...

Abdou Diouf

president of Senegal

September 7, 1935 -

Abdou Diouf is a politician who was president of Senegal from 1981 to 2000. Diouf, the son of a postman, was a member of the Serer people and a devout Muslim. He attended the well-known Lycée Faidherbe...

Hannah More

English writer

February 2, 1745 - September 7, 1833

Hannah More was an English religious writer, best known as a writer of popular tracts and as an educator of the poor. As a young woman with literary aspirations, More made the first of her visits to London...

Jan Ingenhousz

Dutch scientist

December 8, 1730 - September 7, 1799

Jan Ingenhousz was a Dutch-born British physician and scientist who is best known for his discovery of the process of photosynthesis, by which green plants in sunlight absorb carbon dioxide and release...

Taylor Caldwell

American author

September 7, 1900 - August 30, 1985

Taylor Caldwell was a highly popular American novelist known for her family sagas and historical fiction. Caldwell moved to the United States with her family in 1907 and settled in Buffalo, New York. Interested...

Sir Malcolm Bradbury

British writer

September 7, 1932 - November 27, 2000

Sir Malcolm Bradbury was a British novelist and critic who is best known for The History Man (1975), a satirical look at academic life. Bradbury studied at the University of Leicester (B.A., 1953), Queen...