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December 2nd
1547 ~ Death of Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror.
1804 ~ At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned as the first Emperor of France in a thousand years. 1814 ~ Death of Marquis de Sade, Writer 1859 ~ Militant abolitionist leader John Brown was hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry. 1915 ~ Albert Einstein completed his presentations before the Prussian Academy of Sciences of the general theory of relativity. 1923 ~ Birthday of Maria Callas, Opera Singer. 1942 ~ Manhattan Project: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiatd the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction (a coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" was then sent to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt). 1961 ~ Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism. 1972 ~ Gough Whitlam became Prime Minister of Australia. His first action using executive power was to withdraw all Australian personnel from the Vietnam War. 1990 ~ War on Drugs: Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot and killed in Medellín. |
December 3rd
1815 ~ Death of John Carroll - First Roman Catholic Archbishop in the U.S.
1854 ~ Eureka Stockade: More than twenty gold miners at Ballarat, Australia were killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licenses. Claimed by some to be the birth of Australian democracy. 1857 ~ Birthday of Joseph Conrad, Writer, 1894 ~ Death of Robert Louis Stevenson, Writer. 1917 ~ After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opened to traffic (the bridge partially collapsed on August 29, 1907 and September 11, 1916). 1919 ~ Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Painter. 1967 ~ At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, Lewis Washkansky became the first human to receive a heart transplant. The transplant team was headed by Christiaan Barnard. 1970 ~ October Crisis: In Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped British Trade Commissioner James Cross was released by the Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of Canada grants five terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to Cuba. 1984 ~ Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killed more than 3,800 people in one of the worst industrial disasters in history. 1989 ~ Cold War: In a meeting off the coast of Malta, US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released statements indicating that the cold war between their nations may be coming to an end. |
December 4th
1110 ~ First Crusade: The Crusaders conquered Sidon.
1642 ~ Death of Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman. 1674 ~ Father Jacques Marquette founded a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan which would later grow into the city of Chicago, Illinois. 1679 ~ Death of Thomas Hobbes, political philosopher. 1849 ~ Birthday of Crazy Horse, American Indian leader. 1872 ~ The crewless American ship Mary Celeste was found by the British brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for 9 days but was only slightly damaged. 1952 ~ Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descended on London. "Smog" for "smoke" and "fog" becomes a word. 1976 ~ Death of Benjamin Britten, Composer. 1991 ~ Pan Am Airlines ceased operations. 1991 ~ Journalist Terry Anderson was released after a seven years' captivity as a hostage in Beirut. He was the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon. |
December 5th
1492 ~ Christopher Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1766 ~ In London, James Christie held his first sale. He later founded Christie's, the world's oldest auction house. 1791 ~ Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer. 1839 ~ Birthday of George Armstrong Custer, American general. 1890 ~ Birthday of Fritz Lang, film director. 1901 ~ Birthday of Werner Karl Heisenberg, physicist. 1901 ~ Birthday of Walt Disney, film producer. 1926 ~ Sergei Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin", debuted. 1933 ~ Prohibition ends: Utah became the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing the required 3/4th of states needed to enact the amendment. This overturned the 18th Amendment, which had outlawed the sale of alcohol in the United States. 1945 ~ Flight 19, a United States Navy training flight was lost in the Bermuda Triangle. |
December 6th
1768 ~ First edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica waspublished.
1884 ~ The Halifax explosion killed more than 1900 people, and destroyed part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. 1896 ~ Birthday of Ira Gershwin, Lyricist. 1920 ~ Birthday of Dave Brubeck, jazz musician. 1929 ~ Birthday of Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Conductor. 1933 ~ Federal judge John M. Woolsey ruled that the James Joyce novel Ulysses was not obscene. 1972 ~ Launch of the last manned Saturn V, carrying the Apollo 17 astronauts on the last manned lunar landing mission. 1989 ~ The École Polytechnique Massacre: a man killed 14 young women in Montreal, Quebec. 1992 ~ In Ayodhya, India, right-wing Hindus belonging to the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and allied organizations demolished the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, which they claim was built upon the birth place of Lord Rama. 2002 ~ Death of Philip Berrigan, civil rights activist. |
December 7th
43 B.C. ~ Death of Cicero, Roman politician and author.
1761 ~ Birthday of Marie Tussaud, museum proprietress and waxwork modeler. 1817 ~ Death of William Bligh, British naval officer. 1905 ~ Birthday of Gerard Kuiper, Astronomer. 1928 ~ Birthday of Noam Chomsky, Linguist. 1941 ~ The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor officially brought the United States into World War II. 1965 ~ Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054. 1970 ~ Death of Rube Goldberg, cartoonist. 1975 ~ Indonesia invaded East Timor. 1982 ~ First US execution by lethal injection was carried out. |
December 8th
1542 ~ Birthday of Mary Queen of Scots.
1864 ~ Death of George Boole, Mathematician. 1914 ~ Battle of the Falkland Islands fought. 1925 ~ Birthday of Sammy Davis Jr., Actor & Singer. 1939 ~ Birthday of James Galway, Irish flutist. 1949 ~ Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China was moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan. 1978 ~ Death of Golda Meir, former Prime Minister of Israel. 1980 ~ Mark David Chapman kills former Beatle John Lennon. 1991 ~ Leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine met and signed an agreement ending the U.S.S.R. and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Nature Reserve in Belarus. 1993 ~ The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton. |
December 9th
1608 ~ Birthday of John Milton, Poet & Writer.
1793 ~ New York City's first daily newspaper, the “American Minerva”, is established by Noah Webster. 1851 ~ First YMCA in North America established in Montreal. 1868 ~ Birthday of Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1918. 1937 ~ Battle of Nanjing began. The Rape of Nanjing followed 1950 ~ Harry Gold sentenced to thirty years in jail for stealing United States nuclear weapon secrets for the Soviet Union. 1961 ~ Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes in Israel. 1962 ~ Birthday of Tanganyika became a republic. 1987 ~ First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. 1996 ~ Death of Mary Leakey, Archeologist & Anthropologist. |
December 10th
1815 ~ Birthday of Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer.
1822 ~ Birthday of César Franck, Composer & Organist 1830 ~ Birthday of Emily Dickinson, Poet. 1864 ~ William Tecumseh Sherman reached Savannah, Georgia, ending his "March to the Sea". 1896 ~ Death of Alfred Nobel, chemist, founder of the Nobel Prize. 1901 ~ Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize. 1931 ~ Japanese forces landed in the Philippines, captured Guam and sank the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse. 1953 ~ Dr. Albert Schweitzer was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1965 ~ The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco. 1984 ~ Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize. |
December 11th
1725 ~ Birthday of George Mason, American patriot, "Father of the Bill of Rights"
1803 ~ Birthday of Hector Berlioz, Composer. 1882 ~ Birthday of Max Born, physicist and 1954 Nobel laureate. 1918 ~ Birthday of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian author, 1970 Nobel laureate. 1931 ~ Statute of Westminster gave legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Newfoundland. 1937 ~ Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom became effective. 1941 ~ Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. 1943 ~ Birthday of John Kerry, US politician. 1981 ~ Muhammad Ali's last fight – he lost to Trevor Berbick. 1994 ~ A small bomb exploded on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing done by Ramzi Yousef to test explosives that would have been used in Project Bojinka. |
December 12th
1531 ~ Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City.
1901 ~ First radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean by Guglielmo Marconi. 1913 ~ Mona Lisa recovered in Florence, two years after it was stolen. 1915 ~ Birthday of Frank Sinatra, Singer & Actor. 1927 ~ Birthday of Robert Noyce, one of the men credited with the invention of the integrated circuit. 1939 ~ Finland defeated the Soviet Union in the Battle of Tolvajärvi, their first major victory in the Winter War. 1963 ~ Kenya gained its independence from the United Kingdom. 1971 ~ Death of David Sarnoff, radio and television pioneer. 1999 ~ Death of Joseph Heller, Author. 2003 ~ Death of Keiko, the killer whale in the “Free Willy” movies. |
December 13th
1204 ~ Death of Maimonides, Sephardi Philosopher.
1642 ~ Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand. 1784 ~ Death of Samuel Johnson, Essayist. 1816 ~ Birthday of Werner von Siemens, Engineer, Inventor & Industrialist. 1925 ~ Birthday of Dick Van Dyke, Actor & Comedian. 1938 ~ 100 deportees from Sachsenhausen built the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg. 1949 ~ The Knesset voted to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. 1974 ~ Malta became a republic. 1996 ~ Kofi Annan elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations. 2003 ~ Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured near Tikrit. |
December 14th
1503 ~ Birthday of Nostradamus, Astrologer & Mathematician.
1546 ~ Birthday of Tycho Brahe, Astronomer. 1799 ~ Death of George Washington, first President of the United States. 1900 ~ Max Planck published his study of the quantum theory. 1902 ~ First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean. 1911 ~ First expedition reached the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen. 1939 ~ USSR expelled from the League of Nations. 1962 ~ Birthday of Ginger Lynn Allen, Actress. 1962 ~ Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Venus. 1995 ~ The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars. |
December 15th
37 ~ Birthday of Nero, Roman emperor.
1702 ~ Forty-seven ronin, formerly in the service of Asano Naganori, assaulted the household of Kira Yoshinaka, and killed him in vengeance for their lord. Their display of the ideals of bushido became a national legend. 1832 ~ Birthday of Gustave Eiffel, civil engineer. 1852 ~ Birthday of Antoine Henri Becquerel, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics. 1916 ~ France defeated Germany in Battle of Verdun. 1923 ~ Birthday of Freeman Dyson, Physicist. 1952 ~ Death of Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Physicist. 1961 ~ An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentenced Adolph Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish holocaust. 1966 ~ Death of Walt Disney, Animator & Cartoonist. 1994 ~ Netscape Navigator 1.0 first released. |
December 16th
1653 ~ Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1770 ~ Birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer. 1773 ~ The Boston Tea Party. 1775 ~ Birthday of Jane Austen, Writer. 1893 ~ World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony" 1901 ~ Birthday of Margaret Mead, Anthropologist. 1917 ~ Birthday of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Science Fiction Writer. 1928 ~ Birthday of Philip K. Dick, Science Fiction Writer. 1944 ~ World War II: The Battle of the Bulge began. A V-2 rocket hit the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people. 1998 ~ Operation Desert Fox: American and British aircraft began to bomb Iraqi targets after Iraq obstructed UN weapons inspectors. |
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