Almanac - Wednesday 3/23/22

Fannie Farmer, author of famous cookbook, The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, was born today in 1857. The book for the first time included specific ingredient measurements that would become standardized cooking practice.

Florence Ellinwood Allen, the first woman to serve on a state supreme court and one of the first two women to serve as a United States federal judge, was born today in 1884.

Bette Nesmith Graham was born today in 1924. She invented Liquid Paper correction fluid which became an office staple, and later created two foundations to support women’s businesses and art.

March 23, 1897 (d. 1984) – Margaret Farrar, joined the New York World in 1921 with responsibility to get the crossword puzzle mistake-free, also edited Simon & Schuster puzzle books for 60 years, became crossword editor for the New York Times in February 1942

March 23, 1905 (d. 1977) – Joan Crawford, legendary actress, rose to star status in 1928 by dancing the Charleston in Our Dancing Daughters, 50 years later her last movie was What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

1430 – Margaret of Anjou (d. 1482)

1614 – Jahanara Begum, Mughal princess (d. 1681)

1643 – Mary of Jesus de León y Delgado, Spanish Dominican lay sister and mystic (d. 1731)

1732 – Princess Marie Adélaïde of France (d. 1800)

1838 – Marie Adam-Doerrer, Swiss women's rights activist and unionist (d. 1908)

1842 – Susan Jane Cunningham, American mathematician (d. 1921)

1881 – Lacey Hearn, American sprinter (d. 1969)

1882 – Emmy Noether, Jewish German-American mathematician, physicist and academic (d. 1935)

1895 – Encarnacion Alzona, Filipino historian and educator (d. 2001)

1898 – Madeleine de Bourbon-Busset, Duchess of Parma (d. 1984)

1899 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (d. 1943)

1905 – Lale Andersen, German chanson singer-songwriter (d. 1972)

1912 – Eleanor Cameron, Canadian-American author and critic (d. 1996)

1915 – Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe (d. 2014)

1918 – Helene Hale, American politician (d. 2013)

1924 – Olga Kennard, English crystallographer and academic

1931 – Yevdokiya Mekshilo, Russian skier (d. 2013)

1947 – Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, American author

1948 – Marie Malavoy, German-Canadian educator and politician

1950 – Corinne Cléry, French actress

1951 – Ron Jaworski, American football player and sportscaster

1953 – Chaka Khan, American singer-songwriter

1953 – Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian zoologist and businesswoman

1954 – Mary Fee, Scottish Labour Party politician

1957 – Amanda Plummer, American actress

1958 – Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Swedish ice hockey player and coach

1959 – Catherine Keener, American actress

1963 – Ana Fidelia Quirot, Cuban runner

1964 – Hope Davis, American actress

1971 – Yasmeen Ghauri, Canadian model

1971 – Gail Porter, Scottish model and television host

1972 – Judith Godrèche, French actress and author

1976 – Smriti Irani, Indian actress, producer and politician, Indian Minister of Human Resource Development

1976 – Michelle Monaghan, American actress

1976 – Keri Russell, American actress

1981 – Shelley Rudman, English bobsledder

1985 – Bethanie Mattek-Sands, American tennis player

1986 – Kangana Ranaut, Indian actress

1988 – Dellin Betances, American baseball player

1989 – Ayesha Curry, Canadian-American chef, author and television personality

1989 – Sarah McKenna, English rugby player

1991 – Linline Matauatu, Vanuatuan beach volleyball player

Also on this day in history…

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his speech – "Give me liberty, or give me death!" – at St. John's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia.

1857 – Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.

1868 – The University of California is founded in Oakland, California when the Organic Act is signed into law.

1909 – Theodore Roosevelt leaves New York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society.

1977 – The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) is videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes.

1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero of El Salvador gives his famous speech appealing to men of the El Salvadoran armed forces to stop killing the Salvadorans.

1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative: President Ronald Reagan makes his initial proposal to develop technology to intercept enemy missiles.

1996 – Taiwan holds its first direct elections and chooses Lee Teng-hui as President.

2001 – The Russian Mir space station is disposed of, breaking up in the atmosphere before falling into the southern Pacific Ocean near Fiji.

2010 – The Affordable Care Act becomes law in the United States.

2020 – Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19.

2021 – A container ship runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for six days

Also born on this day…

1887 – Josef Čapek, Czech painter and poet (d. 1945)

1887 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1927)

1895 – Dane Rudhyar, French-American astrologer, author and composer (d. 1985)

1900 – Erich Fromm, German psychologist and sociologist (d. 1980)

1910 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1998)

1912 – Wernher von Braun, German-American physicist and engineer (d. 1977)

1922 – Marty Allen, American comedian and actor (d. 2018)

1922 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (d. 1990)

1933 – Philip Zimbardo, American psychologist and academic

1937 – Robert Gallo, American physician and academic

1942 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian, scholar and activist (d. 1980)

1944 – Ric Ocasek, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2019)

1945 – David Grisman, American mandolin player and composer

1952 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American author

1952 – Rex Tillerson, American businessman, engineer and diplomat; 69th United States Secretary of State