October 8, 1951

1951Jack O'Connell, American educator and politician^[†]

Jack T. O'Connell is an American politician, educator and formerly the 26th California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, having been elected to the post in November 2002 with 61% of the vote. He was re-elected to his post by receiving a majority (52%) of the vote in the Primary election on June 6, 2006, thus avoiding a November run-off. He is a member of the Democratic Party. O'Connell was unable to run for a third term in 2010 due to term limits and was succeeded by former state assemblyman Tom Torlakson.

1951Timo Salonen, Finnish race car driver^[†]

Timo Salonen is a Finnish former rally driver who won the 1985 World Rally Championship season for Peugeot. It was commented of him that he stood out from other drivers, because he was overweight, wore thick glasses and smoked heavily, but still remained one of the fastest and most competitive drivers in the sport. He was also known for his relaxed attitude and for his habit of steering his rally car with one hand only. These factors led to the nickname Löysä ("Slack"). With his 11 rally wins he remained the most successful driver of Group B era (1983–1986) of WRC.

1951Shannon C. Stimson, American philosopher, historian, and theorist^[†]

Shannon C. Stimson is an American political theorist and historian of ideas, whose more recent work and teaching spans the economic and political thought of the early modern period through the nineteenth century. She is the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Chair in the Government department at Georgetown University. Her academic posts have included appointments at Harvard University (1984-1991), UC Berkeley (1991-2014), the Fulbright Professorship in the United Kingdom, the Christensen Fellowship of St. Catherine's College, Oxford, the John K. Castle Chair in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale University and she has been a Distinguished Academic Visitor at Queens' College, Cambridge on two occasions. Her research has been supported through fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Association of University Women, as well as by several prize fellowships. Her articles have appeared in numerous edited volumes, journals of political thought, economics, the history of economic thought, and political science in America and Europe. She has served on the editorial boards of the American Political Science Review, the Adam Smith Review, and the Journal of Politics.

1951Adrian Palmer, 4th Baron Palmer, British aristocrat and landowner (died 2023)^[†]

Adrian Bailie Nottage Palmer, 4th Baron Palmer, was a British aristocrat and landowner in Scotland. Lord Palmer succeeded his uncle in the peerage in 1990, and was one of the original ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999; he sat as a crossbencher until his death.