December 10

"Dec 10" redirects here. For the computer known as the "DEC 10", see PDP-10.

December 10 is the 344th day of the year (345th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 220 – Cao Pi forces Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the Han Dynasty throne. The Cao Wei empire is established. The Three Kingdoms period begins.
• 1041 – The adopted son of Empress Zoe of Byzantium succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
• 1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
• 1510 – Portuguese Conquest of Goa: Portuguese naval forces under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque and local mercenaries working for privateer Timoji seize Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate, resulting in 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule.
• 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
• 1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
• 1665 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter
• 1684 – Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley.
• 1799 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.
• 1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
• 1861 – American Civil War: the Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
• 1861 – Forces led by Nguyen Trung Truc, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sink the French lorcha L'Esperance.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.
• 1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
• 1869 – Kappa Sigma Fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
• 1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
• 1899 – Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
• 1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
• 1902 – Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania.
• 1904 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston.
• 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
• 1907 – The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals that have been vivisected.
• 1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1911 – The first transcontinental flight across the United States is completed. Calbraith Perry Rodgers began the flight on 17 September 1911, taking off from Sheepshead Bay NY.
• 1927 – The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" is used for the first time on-air.
• 1932 – Thailand adopts a constitution and becomes a constitutional monarchy.
• 1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded to halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
• 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.
• 1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near Malaya.
• 1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines – Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
• 1948 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
• 1955 – The Mighty Mouse Playhouse premieres on television.
• 1965 – The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name.
• 1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo.
• 1976 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
• 1976 – The 9th Congress of the Sammarinese Communist Party convenes
• 1978 – Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1979 – Kaohsiung Incident: Taiwanese pro-democracy demonstrations are suppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and organizers are arrested.
• 1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the assumption of President Raúl Alfonsín.
• 1989 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement that changes the second oldest communist country into a democracy.
• 1993 – The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages.
• 1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Military advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.

Births

• 1452 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
• 1588 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (d. 1637)
• 1713 – Johann Nicolaus Mempel, German cantor and organist (d. 1747)
• 1751 – George Shaw, English botanist and zoologist (d. 1813)
• 1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator, founded the American School for the Deaf (d. 1851)
• 1804 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
• 1805 – Joseph Škoda, Czech physician (d. 1881)
• 1815 – Ada Lovelace, English mathematician (d. 1852)
• 1821 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet (d. 1877)
• 1822 – César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
• 1824 – George MacDonald, Scottish author, poet, and minister (d. 1905)
• 1827 – Eugene O'Keefe, Canadian businessman (d. 1913)
• 1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
• 1851 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, created the Dewey Decimal System (d. 1931)
• 1861 – Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, British Socialite and mistress to King Edward VII (b. 1938)
• 1866 – Louis Bolk, Dutch anatomist (d. 1930)
• 1870 – Mary Bonaparte, French daughter of Napoléon Charles Grégoire Jacques Philippe Bonaparte (d. 1947)
• 1870 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect, designed Villa Müller (d. 1933)
• 1870 – Pierre Louÿs, French author (d. 1925)
• 1878 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Governor General of India (d. 1972)
• 1880 – Fred Immler, German actor (d. 1965)
• 1880 – Charles King, American jumper (d. 1958)
• 1882 – Otto Neurath, Austrian sociologist and philosopher (d. 1945)
• 1882 – Shigenori Tōgō, Japanese politician (d. 1950)
• 1882 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (d. 1950)
• 1884 – Zinaida Serebriakova, Russian-French painter (d. 1967)
• 1885 – Marios Varvoglis, Greek composer (d. 1967)
• 1886 – Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, English field marshal, 17th Governor General of Canada (d. 1969)
• 1886 – Annie Bos, Dutch actress (d. 1975)
• 1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
• 1896 – Torsten Bergström, Swedish actor and film director (d. 1948)
• 1903 – Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
• 1907 – Rumer Godden, English author (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer (d. 2005)
• 1908 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
• 1909 – Hermes Pan, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1990)
• 1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
• 1912 – Philip Hart, American lawyer and politician, 49th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1976)
• 1913 – Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Pannonica de Koenigswarter, English-American singer (d. 1988)
• 1913 – Harry Locke, English actor (d. 1987)
• 1914 – Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Rafael Ruiz, Spanish field hockey player (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Yahya Petra of Kelantan (d. 1979)
• 1918 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1918 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
• 1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer (d. 2008)
• 1920 – Clarice Lispector, Ukrainian-Brazilian author (d. 1977)
• 1920 – Reginald Rose, American screenwriter (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Lucía Hiriart, Chilean wife of Augusto Pinochet, First Lady of Chile
• 1923 – Harold Gould, American actor (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect, designed the National Library of the Argentine Republic and Marriott Plaza Hotel (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Michael Manley, Jamaican politician, 4th Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 1997)
• 1925 – Jean Byron, American actress (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Carolyn Kizer, American poet
• 1927 – Agnes Nixon, American actress, director, and screenwriter
• 1928 – Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1928 – John Colicos, Canadian actor (d. 2000)
• 1930 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Philip R. Craig, American author (d. 2007)
• 1933 – Larry Morris, American football player (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Mako Iwamatsu, Japanese-American actor (d. 2006)
• 1934 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Terry Allcock, English footballer
• 1938 – Yuri Temirkanov, Russian conductor
• 1939 – Dick Bavetta, American basketball referee
• 1939 – Barry Cunliffe, English archaeologist
• 1941 – Fionnula Flanagan, Irish actress
• 1941 – Tommy Kirk, American actor
• 1941 – Tommy Rettig, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1941 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer and actor (d. 1985)
• 1941 – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1941 – Chad Stuart, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Chad & Jeremy)
• 1944 – Steve Renko, American baseball player
• 1945 – Mukhtar Altynbayev, Kazakhstani general and politician
• 1946 – Thomas Lux, American poet
• 1947 – Douglas Kenney, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1980)
• 1947 – Rasul Guliyev, Azerbaijani politician
• 1947 – Rainer Seifert, German field hockey player
• 1948 – Jasuben Shilpi, Indian sculptor (d. 2013)
• 1948 – Muhammad Zaidan, Syrian terrorist, founder and leader of Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
• 1950 – John Boozman, American politician
• 1951 – Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer and actress
• 1952 – Clive Anderson, English lawyer and television host
• 1952 – Susan Dey, American actress
• 1952 – Greg Mortimer, Australian mountaineer
• 1953 – Chris Bury, American journalist
• 1954 – Jack Hues, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Wang Chung)
• 1955 – Nazir Sabir, Pakistani mountaineer
• 1956 – Rod Blagojevich, American politician, 40th Governor of Illinois
• 1956 – Roberto Cassinelli, Italian politician
• 1956 – Jacquelyn Mitchard, American journalist and author
• 1956 – Jan van Dijk, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1957 – Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1957 – Paul Hardcastle, English composer and producer
• 1957 – Prem Rawat, Indian spiritual leader
• 1958 – Pepsi Demacque, English singer (Pepsi & Shirlie)
• 1958 – Cornelia Funke, German author
• 1958 – John J. York, American actor
• 1959 – Mark Aguirre, American basketball player
• 1959 – Udi Aloni, American-Israeli director and author
• 1959 – Kevin Ash, English journalist (d. 2013)
• 1959 – Wolf Hoffmann, German guitarist (Accept)
• 1960 – Kenneth Branagh, Irish actor and director
• 1960 – Michael Schoeffling, American actor
• 1961 – Nia Peeples, American singer and actress
• 1961 – Oded Schramm, Israel-American mathematician
• 1962 – John de Wolf, Dutch footballer
• 1963 – Jahangir Khan, Pakistani squash player
• 1964 – Stef Blok, Dutch politician
• 1964 – Bobby Flay, American chef
• 1964 – George Newbern, American actor
• 1965 – Greg Giraldo, American comedian (d. 2010)
• 1965 – J Mascis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dinosaur Jr., Witch, Deep Wound, and Upsidedown Cross)
• 1965 – Stephanie Morgenstern, Canadian actress
• 1966 – Mel Rojas, Dominican baseball player
• 1969 – Rob Blake, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Bryant Stith, American basketball player
• 1971 – Bill Baroni, American politician
• 1971 – Brian Nichols, American spree killer
• 1972 – Donavon Frankenreiter, American surfer, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
• 1972 – Brian Molko, Belgian-Luxembourger singer-songwriter and guitarist (Placebo)
• 1973 – Gabriela Spanic, Venezuelan actress
• 1974 – Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
• 1975 – Steve Bradley, American wrestler (d. 2008)
• 1975 – Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
• 1975 – Kristel Verbeke, Belgian singer and actress (K3)
• 1977 – Mr. Águila, Mexican wrestler
• 1977 – Emmanuelle Chriqui, Canadian actress
• 1978 – Summer Phoenix, American actress
• 1979 – Matt Bentley, American wrestler
• 1980 – Massari, Lebanese-Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1980 – Sarah Chang, American violinist
• 1981 – Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
• 1981 – Ryan Pini, Papua New Guinean swimmer
• 1981 – Fábio Rochemback, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Shilpa Anand, South African-Indian actress
• 1982 – Claudia Hoffmann, German sprinter
• 1983 – Patrick Flueger, American actor
• 1983 – Habib Mohamed, Ghanaian footballer
• 1983 – Xavier Samuel, Australian actor
• 1983 – Katrin Siska, Estonian singer (Vanilla Ninja)
• 1984 – JTG, American wrestler
• 1984 – Mark Applegarth, English rugby player
• 1985 – Charlie Adam, Scottish footballer
• 1985 – Matt Forte, American football player
• 1985 – T. J. Hensick, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Trésor Mputu, Congolese footballer
• 1985 – Raven-Symoné, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1986 – Matthew Bates, English footballer
• 1987 – Gonzalo Higuaín, French-Argentine footballer
• 1988 – Wilfried Bony, Ivorian footballer
• 1988 – Mitchell Donald, Dutch footballer
• 1989 – Ng Chee Yang, Singaporean singer
• 1989 – Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, French politician
• 1989 – Zachary Porter, American singer
• 1990 – Kazenga LuaLua, Congolese-English footballer
• 1990 – Shoya Tomizawa, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2010)
• 1994 – Matti Klinga, Finnish footballer

Deaths

• 949 – Herman I, Duke of Swabia
• 1041 – Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
• 1198 – Averroes, Spanish philosopher and polymath (b. 1126)
• 1508 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
• 1603 – William Gilbert, English astronomer, physicist, and physician (b. 1544)
• 1618 – Giulio Caccini, Italian composer (b. 1551)
• 1626 – Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
• 1665 – Tarquinio Merula, Italian organist, violinist, and composer (b. 1594)
• 1677 – Samuel Gorton, English-American civic leader (b. 1593)
• 1736 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese military leader (b. 1663)
• 1831 – Thomas Seebeck, German physicist (b. 1770)
• 1850 – Józef Bem, Polish general (b. 1794)
• 1850 – François Sulpice Beudant, French geologist (b. 1787)
• 1865 – Leopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
• 1867 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese Samurai (b. 1836)
• 1896 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and engineer, invented Dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
• 1909 – Red Cloud, American tribal chief (b. 1822)
• 1911 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (b. 1817)
• 1914 – Robert Williams, American archer (b. 1841)
• 1917 – Mackenzie Bowell, Canadian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
• 1920 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (b. 1868)
• 1922 – Clement Lindley Wragge, English meteorologist (b. 1852)
• 1926 – Nikola Pašić, Serbian-Yugoslav politician, 5th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1845)
• 1928 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect (b. 1868)
• 1936 – Bobby Abel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
• 1936 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
• 1939 – John Grieb, American gymnast (b. 1879)
• 1941 – Colin Kelly, American pilot (b. 1915)
• 1944 – John Brunt, English military officer (b. 1922)
• 1945 – Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (b. 1913)
• 1946 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
• 1946 – Damon Runyon, American journalist and author (b. 1884)
• 1948 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (b. 1896)
• 1951 – Algernon Blackwood, English author (b. 1869)
• 1953 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian scholar and translator (b. 1872)
• 1956 – David Shimoni, Israeli poet (b. 1891)
• 1958 – Adolfo Camarillo, American horse breeder (b. 1864)
• 1967 – Ronnie Caldwell, American organist (The Bar-Kays) (b. 1948)
• 1967 – Phalon Jones, American saxophonist (The Bar-Kays) (b. 1949)
• 1967 – Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1941)
• 1968 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
• 1968 – George Forrest, Irish politician (b. 1921)
• 1968 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
• 1973 – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist (b. 1922)
• 1977 – Adolph Rupp, American basketball player and coach (b. 1901)
• 1978 – Ed Wood, American director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1924)
• 1979 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (b. 1912)
• 1982 – Freeman Fisher Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1986 – Susan Cabot, American actress (b. 1927)
• 1986 – Kate Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
• 1987 – Jascha Heifetz, Russian violinist (b. 1901)
• 1988 – Richard S. Castellano, American actor (b. 1933)
• 1988 – Johnny Lawrence, English cricketer (b. 1911)
• 1990 – Armand Hammer, American businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (b. 1898)
• 1991 – Greta Kempton, American painter (b. 1901)
• 1991 – Headman Shabalala, South African singer (Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (b. 1945)
• 1992 – Dan Maskell, English tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Alice Tully, American singer (b. 1902)
• 1994 – Keith Joseph, English politician (b. 1918)
• 1994 – Alex Wilson, Canadian sprinter (b. 1905)
• 1995 – Darren Robinson, American rapper (The Fat Boys) (b. 1967)
• 1996 – Faron Young, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1932)
• 1999 – Rick Danko, Canadian singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (The Band) (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Lex Goudsmit, Dutch actor (b. 1913)
• 1999 – Shirley Hemphill, American actress (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Franjo Tuđman, Croate politician, 1st President of Croatia (b. 1922)
• 2000 – Marie Windsor, American actress (b. 1919)
• 2001 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
• 2002 – Andres Küng, Swedish journalist and politician (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Gary Webb, American journalist (b. 1955)
• 2005 – Eugene McCarthy, America politician (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940)
• 2006 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean general and politician, 30th President of Chile (b. 1915)
• 2007 – Ashleigh Aston Moore, Canadian actress (b. 1981)
• 2007 – Aqsa Parvez, Pakistani-Canadian murder victim (b. 1991)
• 2008 – Didith Reyes, Filipino actress and singer (b. 1948)
• 2009 – Vladimir Teplyakov, Russian physicist (b. 1925)
• 2010 – John Fenn, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• 2010 – J. Michael Hagopian, Armenian-American director and producer (b. 1913)
• 2010 – MacKenzie Miller, American horse trainer and breeder (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Iajuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi politician, 13th President of Bangladesh (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Vladimir Bakulin, Kazakhstani wrestler (b. 1939)
• 2012 – Cliff Brown, American football player (b. 1952)
• 2012 – Antonio Cubillo, Spanish politician, founder the Canary Islands Independence Movement (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano (b. 1919)
• 2012 – Harry Iauko, Vanuatuan politician
• 2012 – Johnny Lira, American boxer (b. 1951)
• 2012 – Ciarán Maher, Irish footballer (b. 1962)
• 2012 – Bob Munden, American target shooter (b. 1942)
• 2012 – Paul Rauch, American television producer (b. 1934)
• 2012 – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (b. 1942)
• 2012 – John Small, American football player (b. 1946)

Holidays and observances

• Alfred Nobel Day or Nobeldagen, presentation ceremony of the Nobel Prize. (Sweden)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Eulalia of Mérida
  • Miltiades
  • Translation of the Holy House of Loreto
• Constitution Day (Thailand)
• Human Rights Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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