2013 Event A special episode of the British science fiction program 'Doctor Who' called, 'The Day of the Doctor' broadcasts simultaneously to 94 countries in celebration of the show's 50th Anniversary; the broadcast earned a Guinness World Record for the largest ever simulcast of a TV drama 2013 Event Actor Peter Capaldi, of Scotland, lands the role of the Doctor in the twelfth incarnation of the 'Doctor Who' British science fiction show 2006 Death John M. Ford, author, science fiction and fantasy, poet, game designer, wrote, 'The Final Reflection', 'How Much Just for the Planet?', dies of natural causes, at age 49 2003 Death Hal Clement, science fiction writer/educator, Mission of Gravity, dies at 81 2002 Death Charles Sheffield, science and science fiction writer, Starfire, dies at 67 2002 Death Lloyd Biggle, "science fiction, mystery writer", dies at 79 2002 Death Laurence M. Janifer, science fiction writer, dies at 69 2002 Death Damon Knight, science fiction writer/editor/teacher, To Serve Man, dies at 79 2002 Death R. A. Lafferty, science fiction writer, Nine Hundred Grandmothers, dies at 87 2002 Death Jack Haldeman, science fiction writer, Perry's Planet, dies at 60 2001 Death Sir Fred Hoyle, "astronomer, science fiction writer", ", coined the term ""big bang"", ", dies at 86 2000 Death John Sladek, science fiction satirist, dies at 62 1996 Death Horace Leonard Gold, science fiction writer/editor, dies at 81 1996 Death Bob Shaw, science fiction writer, dies of cancer at 64 1988 Death Neil Ronald Jones, science fiction writer (Space War, Twin Worlds), dies at 78 1987 Event Peter Taylor's "Summons to Memphis" wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction 1974 Death Truman Bradley, TV host (Science Fiction Theater), dies at 69 1970 Birthday Uma Thurman, born in Boston, Massachusetts, actress, Baron Munchausen, Pulp Fiction 1963 Birthday Quentin Tarantino, director and screenwriter, Pulp Fiction 1962 Birthday David Foster Wallace, born in New York, author, novelist, short story and literary fiction writer 1961 Birthday Eric Stoltz, actor, Anaconda, Pulp Fiction, Mask 1961 Birthday Greg Egan, born in Perth, Western Australia, author, science fiction, books include, 'Permutation City', 'Diaspora', 'Incandescence' 1960 Birthday Neil Gaiman, born in Portchester, Hampshire, author, science fiction, wrote, 'Good Omens', 'The Sandman' comic book series 1957 Birthday John M. Ford, born in East Chicago, Indiana, author, science fiction and fantasy, poet, game designer, wrote, 'The Final Reflection', 'How Much Just for the Planet?' 1954 Birthday John Travolta, born in Englewood, New Jersey, actor, Welcome Back Kotter, Pulp Fiction 1952 Birthday Somtow Sucharitkul, SP Somtow, Thailand, science fiction author, Utopia Hunters 1948 Birthday Samuel L. Jackson, actor, Amos and Andrew, White Sand, Pulp Fiction 1939 Birthday Harvey Keitel, actor, Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs 1939 Birthday Robert Nye, writer, Facts of Life and other fiction, 3 Views of Man 1934 Birthday Uwe Johnson, born in Pomerania, Poland, writer, scholar, editor, wrote fiction, won International Publishers' Formentor Prize 1928 Birthday Philip Jose Farmer, Indiana, science fiction novelist, Riverworld 1925 Birthday Brian Aldiss, born in East Dereham, England, science fiction author, 'The Helliconia Trilogy' and 'Hothouse' 1925 Birthday John Keith Laumer, Anthony LeBaron, U.S., science fiction author, Retief's War 1917 Birthday Arthur C. Clarke, born in Somerset, England, science fiction author, inventor, wrote '2001: A Space Odyssey' 1917 Birthday Sidney Sheldon, born in Chicago, American writer, Academy-Award winner, crime fiction novelist 1913 Birthday Alfred Bester, U.S., science fiction author, Decievers, Starlight 1905 Birthday Truman Bradley, Missouri, TV host, Science Fiction Theater 1902 Event 1st science fiction film released, A Trip To The Moon 1900 Birthday Richard Arthur Warren Hughes, English writer, Fiction as Truth 1899 Birthday Jorge Luis Borges, born in Argentina, writer of fiction, essays, Labyrinths 1873 Birthday Harry M O'Connor, born in Chicago, Illinois, actor, Stranger than Fiction
