December 15
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 15 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 15 days remaining after December 15 until the end of the year.
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[change] Events
- 533 – The Battle of Ticameron begins
- 687 – St. Sergius I becomes Pope
- 1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran.
- 1791 – The United States Bill of Rights is passed.
- 1890 – Native American chief Sitting Bull is shot dead by Reservation police.
- 1891 – James Naismith introduces basketball.
- 1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1914 – A gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyushu, kills 687 people.
- 1914 – The Battle of Łódź ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
- 1916 – France defeats Germany in Battle of Verdun
- 1939 – Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1941 – Holocaust: Nazi troops murder 15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, near Kharkiv.
- 1945 – General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan.
- 1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands enters effect.
- 1960 – Mahendra of Nepal imposes direct rule.
- 1961 – An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust
- 1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A is launched.
- 1967 – The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapses, killing 46 people.
- 1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus.
- 1970 – South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes in Korea Strait, killing 308 people.
- 1973 – John Paul Getty III is found alive after being kidnapped in Naples, Italy, a few months earlier.
- 1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the UN
- 1994 – Netscape Navigator 1.0 is first released
- 1994 – Palau becomes a member of the UN.
- 1995 – The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling
- 1997 – A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
- 2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened to the public almost 12 years after it was closed for restoration.
- 2002 – BBC 7, digital radio station, is launched in UK.
- 2004 – David Blunkett, Home Secretary in the British Government, resigns over a VISA scandal.
- 2009 – First flight of a Boeing 787
- 2010 – A boat carrying about 90 asylum seekers crashes on rocks off Christmas Island, killing around 30 people.
- 2011 – American troops withdraw from Iraq.
[change] Births
- 34 – Nero, Roman Emperor (d. 68)
- 1447 – Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1508)
- 1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect (d. 1923)
- 1852 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1908)
- 1859 – Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
- 1860 – Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish doctor, won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1904)
- 1861 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (d. 1944)
- 1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Eugen Bolz, German politician and Resistance activist (d. 1945)
- 1892 – J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
- 1896 – Betty Smith, American author (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Harold Abrahams, British sprinter (d. 1978)
- 1907 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect
- 1910 – John H. Hammond, American musician and record producer (d. 1987)
- 1911 – Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
- 1916 – Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Freeman Dyson, English-American physicist
- 1928 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
- 1931 – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer
- 1936 – Joe D'Amato, Italian director and filmmaker (d. 1999)
- 1938 – Juan Carlos Wasmosy, former President of Paraguay
- 1939 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer
- 1943 – Kathleen Blanco, American politician
- 1944 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian activist (d. 1988)
- 1948 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)
- 1952 – Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer
- 1954 – Mark Warner, American politician
- 1955 – Paul Simonon, English musician (The Clash)
- 1955 – Renate Kuenast, German politician
- 1962 – Gary Mason, British boxer (d. 2011)
- 1963 – Helen Slater, American actress
- 1969 – Chantal Petitclerc, Canadian wheelchair athlete
- 1970 – Frankie Dettori, Italian jockey
- 1977 – Dave Mackintosh, Scottish musician
- 1979 – Adam Brody, American actor
- 1980 – Sergio Pizzorno, English musician (Kasabian)
- 1981 – Roman Pavlyuchenko, Russian footballer
- 1981 – Hossam Ghaly, Egyptian footballer
- 1983 – Delon Armitage, English rugby player
- 1983 – Ronnie Radke, American singer
- 1984 – Martin Skrtel, Slovakian footballer
[change] Deaths
- 1025 – Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
- 1072 – Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan in Persia (b. 1029)
- 1263 – King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
- 1598 – Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
- 1621 – Charles de Luynes, Constable of France (b. 1578)
- 1673 – Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
- 1675 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
- 1683 – Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
- 1715 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
- 1753 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
- 1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
- 1890 – Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader (b. c.1831)
- 1943 – Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
- 1944 – Glenn Miller, American musician (b. 1904)
- 1958 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- 1966 – Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
- 1968 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)
- 1975 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born writer (b. 1902)
- 1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
- 1985 – Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian politician (b. 1900)
- 1989 – Arnold Moss, American character actor (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Vasily Zaytsev, Soviet World War II hero (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
- 2001 – Russ Haas, Pro Wrestler (b. 1974)
- 2003 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss racing driver (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Julia Carson, American politician (b. 1938)
- 2009 – Oral Roberts, American television evangelist (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Blake Edwards, American film director (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Bob Feller, American baseball player (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Jean Rollin, French film director and producer (b. 1938)
- 2011 – Christopher Hitchens, British-American author, journalist and critic (b. 1949)
[change] Observances
- Homecoming Day (Alderney)
- Kingdom Day (Netherlands)
