Anniversaries 8 May

Birth

Muhammad al-Baqir30

fifth of the Twelve Shia Imams 677–733

Francis Quarles23

English poet 1592–1644

Claude Louis Hector de Villars7

Marshal General of France 1653–1734

Beilby Porteus5

Bishop of Chester; Bishop of London 1731–1809

John Vianney1

French priest and saint 1786–1859

François Mignet1

French historian and journalist 1796–1884

William Henry Vanderbilt2

American philanthropist 1821–1885

Henry Dunant4

Swiss businessman and founder of the Red Cross 1828–1910

Charbel Makhlouf10

Lebanese Maronite monk and saint 1828–1898

Fern Hobbs1

American lawyer 1883–1964

Harry Truman119

American politician, 33rd president of the United States (i… 1884–1972

William Darling (politician)10

Scottish politician 1885–1962

Stanisław Sosabowski2

Polish general 1892–1967

Arnold Hauser34

Hungarian art historian 1892–1978

Benjamin Graham64

American investor 1894–1976

Edmund Wilson6

American writer, literary and social critic, and noted man … 1895–1972

Fulton J. Sheen78

Catholic bishop and television presenter 1895–1979

Friedrich Hayek79

Austrian and British economist and Nobel Prize for Economic… 1899–1992

George Woodcock21

Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anar… 1912–1995

Saima Harmaja1

Finnish poet and writer 1913–1937

Jens Risom1

American furniture designer 1916–2016

Chinmayananda Saraswati118

Indian spiritual teacher 1916–1993

Stanislav Andreski6

Polish-British sociologist 1919–2007

Leon Festinger1

American psychologist 1919–1989

Saul Bass4

American graphic designer and filmmaker 1920–1996

David Attenborough70

British broadcaster and naturalist 1926

Jane Roberts288

American Writer 1929–1984

Gary Snyder23

American poet 1930

H. Dieter Zeh2

German physicist 1932–2018

Wong Shun Leung22

martial artist 1935–1997

Thomas Pynchon134

American novelist 1937

Ricky Nelson1

American musician (1940-1985) 1940–1985

Peter Benchley4

American author and screenwriter 1940–2006

Irwin Cotler1

Canadian politician 1940

James Traficant5

Ohio politician 1941–2014

Pablo Galimberti2

Roman Catholic bishop of Salto 1941

Norman Lamont9

British politician 1942

Pat Barker2

British writer 1943

John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan8

British politician 1947

Meles Zenawi6

Ethiopian politician; Prime Minister of Ethiopia 1955–2012

Nick Zedd5

American film maker 1958

Roddy Doyle3

Irish author 1958

Jill Seymour2

British politician 1958

Ahmad Khatami3

Iranian ayatollah 1960

Bill de Blasio7

American politician and mayor of New York City 1961

Michael Azerrad1

American musician and writer 1961

Fu Kun-chi1

Taiwanese politician 1962

Keiji Inafune7

Japanese video game designer 1965

Naomi Klein44

Canadian author and activist 1970

Brian Tyler2

American composer, producer, conductor, and film producer 1972

Darren Hayes1

Australian singer-songwriter 1972

Michael Simms (software developer)8

Video game programmer 1973

Hiromu Arakawa18

award winning Japanese manga artist 1973

Маркус Бригсток1

1973

Marcus Brigstocke7

comedian 1973

Josie Maran1

American model and actress 1978

Carola Rackete3

German merchant navy captain 1988

Death

Luigi Cornaro8

Italian philosopher 1484–1566

Peter Heylin3

English ecclesiastic and author of polemical, historical, p… 1599–1662

Antoine Lavoisier7

French chemist 1743–1794

Colin Mackenzie1

Surveyor General of India 1754–1821

John Stuart Mill179

British philosopher and political economist 1806–1873

Jones Very10

American poet and essayist 1813–1880

Enoch Fitch Burr5

American astronomer 1818–1907

Gustave Flaubert98

French writer (1821–1880) 1821–1880

Henry Jenner2

British Celticist 1848–1934

Frederick York Powell2

British historian 1850–1904

Harry Gordon Selfridge23

America born English businessman 1858–1947

Cassius Jackson Keyser1

American mathematician and journalist of pronounced philoso… 1862–1947

Charles Cooley17

American sociologist 1864–1929

Oswald Spengler23

German historian and philosopher 1880–1936

Alexander Vandegrift1

United States Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient and Com… 1887–1973

Talcott Parsons17

American sociologist 1902–1979

Robert A. Heinlein557

American science fiction author 1907–1988

John Fante113

1909–1983; American novelist, short story writer and screen… 1909–1983

Theodore Sturgeon44

American speculative fiction writer 1918–1985

Mordechai Anielewicz5

Leader of the Jewish Combat Organization 1919–1943

Avram Davidson41

novelist 1923–1993

Géza Vermès3

British scholar 1924–2013

Maurice Sendak53

American illustrator and writer of children's books 1928–2012

Jim Fowler2

American zoologist 1930–2019

Dallas Willard14

American philosopher 1935–2013

Neil Bogart2

American music executive 1943–1982

Gilles Villeneuve9

Canadian racecar driver 1950–1982