October 4th Birthdays

Alice Stewart (née Naish)
Stewart was an English epidemiologist who demonstrated the connection between foetal X-rays and childhood leukemia. She insisted that exposure to low-level radiation caused adverse effects greater than accepted but this view was resisted by officials of the British and U.S. governments. Her results were initially regarded as unsound, but her findings on foetal damage caused by x-rays of pregnant women were eventually accepted worldwide and the use of medical x-rays during pregnancy and early childhood was curtailed as a result.

Starting in WW II, she also investigated the health effects of exposure to TNT in ammunitions factories, of carbon tetrachloride, and a prevalence of tuberculosis among shoe industry workers. After a visit to the U.S. in 1974, she consulted on a major investigation of the health of workers in the nuclear industry there.

Stewart was born in Sheffield, England in 1906. She studied pre-clinical medicine at Girton College, Cambridge, and in 1932 completed her clinical studies at the Royal Free Hospital, London. She gained experience in hospital posts in Manchester and London, before returning to the Royal Free Hospital as a registrar. She was the youngest woman ever to be elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1946. She died June 23rd, 2002.

Quote
"We have already doubled the level of background radiation today. What is the effect on human genes? That is the really important question: it won't show up for two or three more generations."
Alice Stewart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Stewart
http://www.rightlivelihood.org/stewart.html

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen O'Brien)
Rice is a best-selling American author of gothic and religious-themed books. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history. Some of her better-known and best-selling works include ‘Interview With a Vampire’, ‘The Queen of the Damned ‘, (both part of ‘The Vampire Chronicles’), ‘The Witching Hour’ and ’ Lasher’ (both part of ‘The Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ series).

Rice was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1941. She was named Howard after her father but changed her name to Anne when she started school. She was married to poet and painter Stan Rice for 41 years until his death from cancer in 2002.

In October 2004, Rice announced in a Newsweek article that she would "write only for the Lord." She called ‘Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt’, her first novel in this genre, the beginning of a trilogy that chronicles the life of Jesus. Rice also wrote under the pseudonyms of Anne Rampling and A. N. Roquelaure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Rice

Susan Sarandon (Born Susan Abigail Tomalin)
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1970, and won an Oscar for her performance in the 1995 film, ‘Dead Man Walking’. She is also noted for her activism for a variety of liberal causes.

Susan was born in New York City in 1946. In 2006, Susan, with 10 of her relatives (including her partner Tim Robbins and her son Miles) travelled to Wales to trace her family's Welsh genealogy. Their journey was documented by the BBC Wales programme, ‘Coming Home: Susan Sarandon’.

In 1975 she appeared as Janet in the cult favourite ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’. Other notable films include ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, ‘Thelma & Louise’ and ‘Lorenzo's Oil’.
In 2006, she received the ‘Action Against Hunger Humanitarian Award’. She was honoured for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, an advocate for victims of hunger and HIV/AIDS, and a spokesperson for Heifer International.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sarandon
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000215/