ENGAGED. Princess Marie-Astrid, 27, eldest daughter of the reigning Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg; and Karl Christian von Habsburg-Lorraine, 27, Brussels banker, son of Archduke Charles Louis of Austria and grandson of the late Austrian Emperor Karl I; in Luxembourg. Princess Marie-Astrid made headlines last year because she was the last eligible princess to be linked with Britain's Prince Charles before he chose Lady Diana Spencer. Astrid's wedding is planned for Feb. 6.

DIED. Frank Malina, 69, pioneering American aeronautical engineer whose early work on solid-fuel rockets helped the U.S. land the first man on the moon; of a heart attack; in Paris. Malina and the late aero-dynamicist Theodore von Karman helped found what became the California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the late 1930s to research high-altitude rockets. During World War II, the two scientists developed solid-fuel rockets to give propeller-driven aircraft faster takeoffs. In 1945, they helped design one of the U.S.'s first high-altitude sounding rockets, the WAC Corporal. Malina left the lab to work in France as head of the scientific research division of UNESCO. While in Paris, he developed a system of kinetic painting, an art form that employs light, electricity and rotating discs.

DIED. Dorsey Richardson, 85, retired Wall Street investment banker who served as an economic adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson; in Princeton, N.J. Richardson was a vice president at Lehman Bros, for 18 years. In 1963, President Kennedy appointed him to a task force aimed at promoting foreign investment in the U.S., a post Richardson was reappointed to by Johnson.

DIED. Abel Gance, 92, illustrious French film director who devised such techniques as multiple screens, double-printing and wide-angle lenses to create brilliant silent movies, including the 1927 masterpiece Napoleon; in Paris. A prolific film maker, Gance produced such classics as I Accuse and The Wheel. But his success ended with the advent of talkies. Shuttling between unemployment and obscure commercial movies, he complained: "I prostituted myself not to live but to avoid dying." Five decades later, one understanding producer, Francis Coppola, helped English Film Historian Kevin Brownlow present a reassembled copy of Napoleon, shown last January in New York City. The revival of the epic gave Gance the acclaim that had long eluded him. But the master film maker, though grateful, was still bitter, lamenting, "The bravos come too late."

DIED. Will Durant, 96, Pulitzer-prizewinning historian who collaborated with his wife Ariel in writing an eleven-volume magnum opus, The Story of Civilization; in Los Angeles (see EDUCATION).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.