Sally Kristen Ride is a physicist who joined NASA in 1978 and became the 
first American woman, then the youngest at 32, to enter space. She left 
NASA in 1987 to work at Stanford University’s Center for International
Security and Arms Control. In 1989, she became a professor of physics
at the University of  California, San Diego and Director of the California
Space Institute.   

Sally Ride turned 61 on May 26.

Bob Dylan was awarded an honorary doctorate from Princeton
University. The decision to honor Dylan at the school’s 1970
graduation ceremony was somewhat unconventional at the time
and not only did it raise eyebrows among the Princeton crowd,  
it also made Dylan uncomfortable.

According to news reports of the ceremony, Dylan initially refused
to wear a cap and gown and did not speak directly with any staff
or students at the school. Instead, he communicated through his 
wife and through singer David Crosby, who had accompanied him 
on the trip to Princeton.

Dylan found the experience so unsettling that he wrote about it in
a song on his album. "Day of the Locusts" where he describes the
experience and expresses relief that the event is behind him,
declaring: “Sure was glad to get out of there alive.”  

Dylan (R) receiving his honorary doctorate

             
            Bob Dylan turned 71 on May 21

   Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882)

The first appearance of Oregon State University’s mascot “Benny the Beaver” as a costumed student was with the schools rally squad (above) in 1951.