AstroDataBlog

Monday, 1 April 2013

William Emerson (Correction, oops!)

Oops! Many thanks to Marjorie Orr for pointing out that I miscalculated William Emerson's chart. As stated in his father's prayer book he "was born, Wednesday, May 14, at one o'clock in the morning and 40 minutes." That was Old Style [OS] but I used the new style calendar. The correct chart is now here (22 Pisces Ascendant): William Emerson, 1701-1782 (Mathematician).

Friday, 29 March 2013

William Emerson, 1701-1782 (Mathematician)

* William Emerson's father wrote in his old Prayer-book that the future mathematician "was born, Wednesday, May 14, at one o'clock in the morning and 40 minutes."

William Emerson (14 May 1701 – 20 May 1782), English mathematician, was born at Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school. William himself had a small estate in Weardale called Castle Gate situated not far from Eastgate where he would repair to work throughout the Summer on projects as disparate as stonemasonry and watchmaking. Unsuccessful as a teacher, he devoted himself entirely to studious retirement. Possessed of remarkable energy and forthrightness of speech, Emerson published many works which are singularly free from errata.

In The Principles of Mechanics (1754) he shows a wind-powered vehicle in which the vertically-mounted propeller gives direct power to the front wheels via a system of cogs. In mechanics he never advanced a proposition which he had not previously tested in practice, nor published an invention without first proving its effects by a model. He was skilled in the science of music, the theory of sounds, and the ancient and modern scales; but he never attained any excellence as a performer. He died on 20 May 1782 at his native village, where his gravestone bears epitaphs in Latin and Hebrew.

Emerson dressed in old clothes and his manners were uncouth. He wore his shirt back to front and his legs wrapped in sacking so as not to scorch them as he sat over the fire. He declined an offer to become FRS because it would cost too much after all the expense of farthing candles he had been put to in the course of his life of study. Emerson rode regularly into Darlington on a horse like Don Quixote's, led by a hired small boy. In old age, plagued by the stone, he would alternately pray and curse, wishing his soul 'could shake off the rags of mortality without such a clitter-me-clatter.'

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo source: unknown.

HOROSCOPE NOTES

We expect abstract Neptune, Pisces and the 12th House to be strong in mathematicians' charts. Emerson had a Pisces Ascendant with Jupiter in Pisces in the 12th House ruled by Neptune at the apex of a T-square. His Piscean Jupiter rules the Sagittarius MC.

NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 14 May 1701, 01:40 (1:40 a.m.) LMT (0:06:16), Hurworth-on-Tees, Darlington, England (54n31, 01w34). ASC: 22 Pisces. RR=AA (quoted from father's prayer book). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes The Gentleman's Magazine, 1787, Vol. 57, Part 2, p. 775: "'William Emerson' (one of the greatest mathematicians that this or any other age has produced) 'was born, Wednesday, May 14, at one o'clock in the morning and 40 minutes. Baptized June 10, 1701.' The above was extracted from a vacant page of an old Prayer-book, wherein Dudley Emerson (the father of William) has registerd his marriage, and the births of his several children."

If you're enjoying these posts please consider making a donation by Paypal. Thanks.

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us.

Newsmaker: Elle Macpherson (Supermodel, businesswoman, actor)

* Born in 1963 or 1964?? Elle Macpherson tweeted today that she is turning 49 yet other accounts claim she is now 50.

Elle Macpherson (born 29 March 1963) is an Australian businesswoman, television host, model, and actress. She is well known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s, leading to her nickname "The Body". She is also known as the founder primary model and creative director for a series of business ventures, including Elle Macpherson Intimates, a lingerie line, and The Body, a line of skin care products.

In 2010, she became the host and executive producer of Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model. She is currently the host and an executive producer of NBC's Fashion Star.

Van Johnson (Actor, dancer, singer)

* A biographer writes that Van Johnson's birth "took place shortly before dawn on a howling, rainy night."

Van Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II.

Johnson was the embodiment of the "boy-next-door wholesomeness (that) made him a popular Hollywood star in the '40s and '50s," playing "the red-haired, freckle-faced soldier, sailor or bomber pilot who used to live down the street" in MGM movies during the war years with such films as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe and The Caine Mutiny. Johnson made occasional World War II movies through the end of the 1960s, and he played a military officer in one of his final feature films, in 1992. At the time of his death in December 2008, he was one of the last surviving matinee idols of Hollywood's "golden age."

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

HOROSCOPE NOTES

The birth time I've proposed below gives Virgo Sun ("boy-next-door wholesome star") conjunct and ruling a 29 Leo Ascendant ("red-haired Golden Boy").

NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Charles Van Dell Johnson, 25 August 1916, about 04:58 (4:58 a.m.) EST (+5), Newport, Rhode Island, USA (41n29, 71w18). NB: Taking "dawn" to mean sunrise, this proposed birth time is ten minutes before 5:08 a.m. when the Sun reached the Ascendant. ASC: about 29 Leo. RR=B (from biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Ronald L. Davis, Van Johnson: MGM's Golden Boy (University Press of Mississippi, 2001), p. 8: "their only child, christened Charles Van Dell Johnson, was born at Newport Hospital on August 25, 1916. His birth took place shortly before dawn on a howling, rainy night."

If you're enjoying these posts please consider making a donation by Paypal. Thanks.

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us.

Thursday, 28 March 2013

Stefan Lorant (Filmmaker, photojournalist, author)

* Stefan Lorant's mother wrote in her Jewish prayer book: 'Stefan our Son born 1901, February 22nd, 6.00 a.m. God's Blessing should accompany his dear life.'

Stefan (Istvan) Lorant (February 22, 1901 in Budapest, Hungary - November 14, 1997 in Rochester, Minnesota) was a pioneering Hungarian-American filmmaker, photojournalist, and author.

After completing high school in his native Hungary in 1919, Lorant moved to Germany, where he made his mark in films and photojournalism. His first film, The Life of Mozart, established him as a filmmaker, and he went on to make 14 films in Vienna and Berlin, some of which he wrote, directed, and photographed. He claimed to have given Marlene Dietrich her first film test, and though he rejected her for the part, they remained lifelong friends. Lorant's abilities in writing and still photography led to the editorship of the Münchner Illustrierte Presse, one of Germany's finest picture magazines.

Opposed to Adolf Hitler, Lorant was imprisoned right after Hitler came to power. Released after six months, he made his way to England, where he wrote I Was Hitler's Prisoner, a memoir that sold out many printings. He edited the Weekly Illustrated, a popular British picture magazine, then founded Lilliput, made famous by his clever picture juxtapositions, as in Neville Chamberlain versus the llama. On October 1, 1938, Lorant co-founded with publisher Sir Edward G. Hulton the first great British picture magazine, Picture Post. During this time, Lorant published a Picture Post Special about the United States.

Failing to obtain British citizenship, Lorant moved to Lenox, Massachusetts in July 1940, where he lived the remainder of his life. Tom Hopkinson succeeded Lorant as editor of Picture Post.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

HOROSCOPE NOTES

A mutual reception between Mercury in Pisces and Neptune in Gemini could not be more apt for the "godfather of photojournalism."

NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 22 February 1901, 06:00 (6 a.m.) CET (-1), Budapest, Hungary (47n30, 19e05). ASC: 13 Aquarius. RR=AA (from mother's prayer book). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Michael Hallett, Stefan Lorant: Godfather of Photojournalism (Scarecrow Press, 2006), pp. 4 & 14: "I [Stefan] was born in Budapest." & "Stefan's mother made the following handwritten entries in Hungarian in her Jewish prayer book: 'Stefan our Son born 1901, February 22nd, 6.00 a.m. God's Blessing should accompany his dear life. Our Son Imre born 1902, October 3rd, 7.00 pm. The eternal's blessing should be with him during his long life. Our Son George born 1905, September 3rd, 11.00 a.m. He should develop in mind and strength to become a smart man to bring us maximum happiness.'"

If you're enjoying these posts please consider making a donation by Paypal. Thanks.

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us.

Brandon Thomas, 1848–1914 (Actor, playwright, songwriter)

* Brandon Thomas's father recorded his time of birth in the family Pedigree Book.

Walter Brandon Thomas (24 December 1848 – 19 June 1914) was an English actor, playwright and song writer, best known as the author of the farce Charley's Aunt.

Born in Liverpool to a family with no theatrical connections, Thomas worked in commerce, and as an occasional journalist, before achieving his ambition of becoming an actor. After a succession of minor roles, he became increasingly sought after as a character actor. He also wrote more than a dozen plays, the most celebrated of which, Charley's Aunt (1892), broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances and numerous subsequent productions all around the world, film and musical theatre adaptations.

Although Thomas never repeated the prodigious success of Charley's Aunt, he maintained a career as an actor and dramatist until his death, acting mostly in comedy, but with occasional serious roles in the plays of Shakespeare and others.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo credit: Cartoon of Brandon Thomas from: "The Call Boy", Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, March 1893, p. 100.

HOROSCOPE NOTES

Brandon's signature play, Charley's Aunt, broke all historic records for plays of any kind. He had record-breaking Jupiter in dramatic Leo at the tail of a Kite pattern and as a Bucket handle or lead planet in a Locomotive shape.

NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 24 December 1848, 23:30 (11:30 p.m.) GMT (+0), Liverpool, England (53n25, 02w55). ASC: 25 Virgo. RR=AA (from quoted birth records). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Jevan Brandon-Thomas, Charley's Aunt's Father: A Life of Brandon Thomas (London: Douglas Saunders with MacGibbon & Kee, 1955), p. 11: "Walter Brandon Thomas was born at 101 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, at 11.30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, 1848. Having duly recorded the fact in the official Birth Register and in the family Pedigree Book, Brandon's father indulged his love of the picturesque by proclaiming the more attractive anniversary Christmas Day as his son's birthday."

If you're enjoying these posts please consider making a donation by Paypal. Thanks.

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us.

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

Newsmaker: Nick d'Aloisio (Flat data, noon Astrology chart)

* I've found the Times birth notice for Nick D'Aloisio, the British-Australian entrepreneur, computer programmer and designer who has become known for the creation of Summly and its technology. No birth time yet, sorry.

Nick D'Aloisio has been recognised as the youngest person to receive a round of venture capital in technology at just 15 years of age. D'Aloisio's business partners include Li Ka-Shing, Rupert Murdoch, Ashton Kutcher, Stephen Fry, Yoko Ono and Mark Pincus, among others.

D'Aloisio grew up in London, United Kingdom, attending King's College School, in Wimbledon where he received an Academic Scholarship. D'Aloisio received his first computer at 9 and used it to create movies with editing tools such as Final Cut Pro. D'Aloisio began writing apps at the age of 12 in 2008. He is still based in London. His mother Diana D'Aloisio is a lawyer and his father works in commodities.

D'Aloisio was born in Australia in 1996, with his parents Diana and Lou. He lived in both Melbourne and Perth. D'Aloisio created the Trimit application for iOS in March 2011, which used an analytical tool to condense text content into 1000, 500, or 140-character summary text. The app caught the attention of Apple who featured Trimit as a new and noteworthy application on the App Store in July 2011. The potential of Trimit attracted the attention of Hong Kong based billionaire Li Ka-shing, who provided D'Alosio with US$300,000 in venture capital funding. D'Alosio used the feedback and criticism from Trimit to completely re-design the application, and re-launched it in December 2011, as Summly. As of March 2013 Summly was sold to Yahoo for a reported $30 million US dollars.

Summly aimed to solve perceived problems with the way news articles are presented on smartphones, with initial version of Summly being downloaded by over 200,000 users. As a result of the corporate support, in November, 2012, D'Alosio received US$1,000,000 in new venture funding for Summly from several international celebrities such as Yoko Ono, Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry, in addition to Hong Kong business mogul Li Ka-shing.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo by @Kmeron for LeWeb12 Conference @ Westminster Central Hall - London. Cropped from Nick D’Aloisio, Founder, Summly & Bobbie Johnson.

HOROSCOPE NOTES

This "teen app wizard" is one of the Pluto-in-Scorpio generation with his Pluto in the last degree of Scorpio conjunct Mars in Sagittarius (venture-) and Venus in Scorpio (-capital, funding).

NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Nicholas D'Aloisio-Montilla, 1 November 1995, time unknown, London, England (51n30, 00w10). ASC: Unknown. RR=X (flat data from newspaper birth notice; birth time unknown). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes "Births," Times [London], 7 November 1995, p. 20 (see image below): "D'ALOISIO-MONTILLA - On 1st November, to Diana and Lou, a beautiful son, Nicholas." NB: Place of birth not stated; London presumed. A recent news article gives his full name, parents' names and place of birth as London, but wrong year: "D'Aloisio (full name Nicholas D'Aloisio–Montilla, although he drops the double–barrelled part because D'Aloisio is just, well, cooler) was born in London to expat Australian parents – Lou, a commodities trader, and Diana, a lawyer – in 1996" (Sarah Rainey, "'It was a massive gamble but a good one,'" Daily Telegraph, 27 March 2013).

If you're enjoying these posts please consider making a donation by Paypal. Thanks.

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us. Thankyou.

www.AstroDataBlog.com

Welcome to AstroDataBlog!

Over the past 15+ years, Sy Scholfield has provided the global astrological community with thousands of timed astro-data (over 15,000 in AstroDatabank). The result of his meticulous research ― as evidenced by their scholarly source notes ― these data pertain to people from many historical periods, geographical regions and walks of life. On this official blog, Sy continues his endeavour, posting new, updated and newsmaker data and charts from his vast collection of astrological information ― for your reference, study and enjoyment. Please feel free to share these data and charts with appropriate acknowledgment.