Anniversaries 4 January

Birth

Ali Zayn al-Abidin11

Great-grandson of the Prophet Muhammad 659–713

Isaac Newton171

British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern c… 1643–1727

Frederick York Powell2

British historian 1850–1904

Langdon Smith20

American journalist 1858–1908

Jacoba van Heemskerck18

Dutch painter 1876–1923

Marsden Hartley33

American artist 1877–1943

Wilhelm Lehmbruck2

German sculptor 1881–1919

Yoshijirō Umezu6

Japanese general 1882–1949

Max Eastman15

American activist 1883–1969

J. C. Kumarappa1

Jōsaph Celladurai; b. 01/04/1892; economist; mem., Indian P… 1892–1960

Everett Dirksen5

United States Army officer 1896–1969

C. L. R. James21

Trinidadian writer 1901–1989

Marie-Louise von Franz30

Swiss psychologist and scholar 1915–1998

Don Arden1

English producer 1926–2007

Günter Schabowski3

German politician 1929–2015

Paul Virilio7

French philosopher 1932–2018

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor4

American children's writer 1933

Gianni Vattimo4

Italian philosopher, politician 1936–2023

Jon Appleton4

American composer 1939

Gao Xingjian22

Chinese novelist and playwright 1940

John McLaughlin7

guitarist, founder of the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1942

Doris Kearns Goodwin4

American biographer 1943

Ramsey Campbell2

English author 1946

Natalie Goldberg36

American writer 1948

Jon D. Levenson1

American biblical scholar 1949

Roy A. Childs, Jr.18

American libertarian essayist and critic 1949–1992

Gerald Barbarito1

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida 1950

Bob Black63

American anarchist 1951

Eugene Chadbourne1

American musician 1954

April Winchell7

American voice actor and writer 1960

Peter Steele4

American musician 1962–2010

Harlan Coben18

Author 1962

Till Lindemann2

German industrial metal musician 1963

Johnny Nelson1

British boxer 1967

Harmony Korine1

American film director and screenwriter 1973

Michael Nielsen1

Australian and Canadian physicist and writer (b.1974) 1974

Seth Grahame-Smith27

US fiction author 1976

Shiro Amano11

Japanese manga artist 1976

Sarah Mlynowski18

Novelist 1977

Roberto Speranza1

Italian politician 1979

Alicia Garza5

Co-founder of the Black Lives Matter International movement 1981

Rayssa Leal2

Youngest Brazilian skateboarder and athlete to win a medal … 2008

Death

Hasan al-Askari17

Eleventh of the Twelve Imams 846–874

Angela of Foligno13

Italian saint 1248–1309

Alauddin Khalji19

Ruler of the Khalji dynasty 1266–1316

Girolamo Gigli4

Italian dramaturge 1660–1722

Moses Mendelssohn3

German Jewish philosopher and theologian 1729–1786

Antonio Simeone Sografi2

Italian playwright 1759–1818

Cornelius Vanderbilt2

American businessman, philanthropist, and tycoon 1794–1877

Tryon Edwards57

American theologian 1809–1894

Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer2

English-American writer and translator 1822–1904

Silas Weir Mitchell6

American physician 1829–1914

Henri Bergson18

French philosopher 1859–1941

Frances Kellor37

American sociologist 1873–1952

Mohammad Ali Jauhar3

Indian Muslim leader, activist, scholar, journalist and poet 1878–1931

Erwin Schrödinger67

Austrian physicist 1887–1961

T.S. Eliot270

20th century English author 1888–1965

Lauretta Bender2

American neuropsychiatrist 1897–1987

Carlo Levi1

Italian painter 1902–1975

Christopher Isherwood35

English novelist 1904–1986

Reijer Hooykaas5

Dutch historian 1906–1994

Danie Craven4

South African rugby union player and administrator 1910–1993

Irving Layton5

Romanian-born Canadian poet 1912–2006

Albert Camus209

French author and journalist 1913–1960

Robert L. Heilbroner39

American historian and economist 1919–2005

Dick King-Smith2

English writer of children's books 1922–2011

Joan Aiken1

English fiction writer 1924–2004

Harold Demsetz7

American economist 1930–2019

Doris Veillette11

Quebec journalist 1935–2019

Salmaan Taseer1

Pakistani politician 1944–2011

Gerry Rafferty7

Scottish singer and songwriter 1947–2011