Paula Abdul is best known for her hit songs and dancing in the 1990s, and for judging American Idol in the 2000s.
1962-
1951-
Soldier and revolutionary leader José Gervasio Artigas is regarded as the father of Uruguayan independence, which occurred years after his exile.
1764-1850
Madeleine Force Astor married 47-year-old John Jacob Astor in her late teens. The marriage was cut short when he died in the sinking of the Titanic.
1893-1940
1941-
Intrigued by burrs that stuck to his clothing, in 1956, Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented the popular fastener now known as Velcro®.
1907-1990
The music of British singer-songwriter Nick Drake wasn't a hit during his lifetime, but his albums Fruit Tree and Pink Moon have gained fans over the years.
1948-1974
Jean Dujardin is a French actor and comedian. He is the first French actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor, for his performance in the 2011 film The Artist.
1972-
Lester Flatt was best known for his bluegrass guitar stylings as part of the Foggy Mountain Boys and Flatt and Scruggs.
1914-1979
1910-1985
Nominated to replace Earl Warren as chief justice in 1968, Abe Fortas became the first nominee for that post since 1795 to fail to win Senate approval.
1910-1982
Hall of Fame first baseman Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees in the 1920s and 1930s, setting the mark for consecutive games played. He died of ALS in 1941.
1903-1941
Moe Howard was the leader of the vaudeville and film comedy team, The Three Stooges.
1897-1975
1928-2000
Shirley Muldowney is recognized as one of the top professional car racers in the world, having earned the moniker "First Lady of Drag Racing."
1940-
Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher, who laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities.
1623-1662
Les Paul was a musician who designed a solid-body guitar in 1941, which then was a new type of instrument.
1915-2009
1948-
1861-1896
Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist best known for the novels Midnight's Children (1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988), for which he was accused of blasphemy against Islam.
1947-
Zoe Saldana is a trained dancer who's become a leading actress in Hollywood, having starred in blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek and Avatar.
1978-
Aung San Suu Kyi is an opposition leader in her home country of Myanmar and the winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize for Peace.
1945-
A film and TV actress Mia Sara is best known for her role as Sloan Peterson, the girlfriend of Ferris Bueller in John Hughes's 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
1967-
American socialite Wallis Simpson became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. Edward abdicated the throne to marry her, a period known as the Abdication Crisis.
1896-1986
1954-
1881-1946
Samuel West is a British actor best known for his roles in the films Howards End, Notting Hill, Van Helsing and Hyde Park on Hudson.
1966-
Ann Wilson is best known as the vocalist for Heart, the rock band that became famous for songs like "Barracuda."
1950-