December 22
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are nine days remaining until the end of the year.
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Events[change]
- 1603 – Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.
- 1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the United States Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.
- 1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, passes the United States Congress.
- 1849 – The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second.
- 1851 – The first freight train is operated in Roorkee in India.
- 1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman
- 1885 – Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan.
- 1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins, in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, on antisemitic grounds.
- 1894 - The United States Golf Association is founded.
- 1910 – Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire, 21 firemen were killed.
- 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.
- 1939 - Worst day in history of German train travel: Two separate accidents kill 287 people in total.
- 1944 – World War II: German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium. See Battle of the Bulge
- 1944 – World War II: Vietnam People's Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Vietnam
- 1963 – Cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.
- 1964 – Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity.
- 1965 – A 65 miles per hour speed limit is introduced on country roads and motorways in the United Kingdom.
- 1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
- 1979 - Catalonia is given autonomy within Spain.
- 1984 – Subway vigilante Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four African-American youths on an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City.
- 1988 – Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
- 1988 – Yitzhak Shamir present his 3rd government in front of the Israeli Parliament
- 1989 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist dictatorship.
- 1989 – Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
- 1989 – Two Tourist coaches collide on the Pacific Highway north of Kempsey NSW (Kempsey Bus Crash).
- 1990 – The Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia become independent after the end of their trusteeship.
- 1990 – Lech Wałęsa is sworn in as President of Poland.
- 1992 – An MiG23 and a Boeing 727 of Libyan Arab Airlines collide near Tripoli, killing 157 people.
- 1997 – Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas were massacred by paramilitary forces.
- 1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21 1999).
- 1999 – Tandja Mamadou becomes President of Niger.
- 2001 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, handed over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai.
- 2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
- 2001 – CC the cat, the first cloned pet, is born.
- 2002 - Janez Drnovsek becomes President of Slovenia.
- 2005 - Astronomers announce the discovery of two more rings around the planet Uranus.
- 2008 – President of Guinea Lansana Conte dies. Following his death, Moussa Dadis Camara takes power in a coup.
- 2010 – The end of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy regarding Homosexuals in the United States Military is signed into law by Barack Obama.
- 2011 – Baghdad is struck by a series of bomb explosions.
Births[change]
- 244 – Diocletian, Roman Emperor (d. 311)
- 1095 – King Roger II of Sicily (d. 1154)
- 1178 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (d. 1185)
- 1550 - Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (d. 1631)
- 1639 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (d. 1699)
- 1666 – Gobind Singh, Sikh guru (d. 1708)
- 1694 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German writer and philosopher (d. 1768)
- 1696 – James Oglethorpe, English general, founder of the State of Georgia (d. 1785)
- 1723 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German composer (d. 1787)
- 1765 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician (d. 1825)
- 1807 – Johann Christian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (d. 1873)
- 1819 – Franz Abt, German composer (d. 1870)
- 1819 – Pierre Ossian Bonnet, French mathematician (d. 1892)
- 1848 – Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, German classical philologist (d. 1931)
- 1853 - Yevgraf Fyodorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1919)
- 1856 – Frank B. Kellogg, American lawyer and diplomat, 45th United States Secretary of State (d. 1937)
- 1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (d. 1924)
- 1862 - Connie Mack, American baseball player, manager and team owner (d. 1956)
- 1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet and editor (d. 1944)
- 1883 – Edgar Varese, French-American composer (d. 1965)
- 1887 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
- 1888 - J. Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank, British movie producer (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Gustaf Gruendgens, German actor (d. 1963)
- 1900 – Marc Allegret, French movie director and screenwriter (d. 1973)
- 1900 - John C. Slater, American chemist and physicist (d. 1976)
- 1901 - Andre Kostelanetz, American popular music orchestra leader and arranger (d. 1980)
- 1903 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist (d. 1983)
- 1905 – Pierre Brasseur, French actor (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (d. 1991)
- 1909 - Patricia Hayes, British actress (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1922 - Ruth Roman, American actress (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Jim Wright, American politician
- 1933 - Abel Pacheco, former President of Costa Rica
- 1936 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
- 1937 – Eduard Uspensky, Russian writer
- 1940 – Luis Francisco Cuellar, Colombian politician (d. 2009)
- 1943 – Paul Wolfowitz, former World Bank President
- 1945 - Diane Sawyer, American journalist and television presenter
- 1946 - Rick Nielsen, rock musician
- 1948 – Noel Edmonds, British television presenter
- 1948 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1949 – Maurice Gibb, British singer and musician (Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
- 1949 – Robin Gibb, British singer and musician (Bee Gees) (d. 2012)
- 1959 – Bernd Schuster, German footballer
- 1960 - Jean-Michel Basquiat, American artist (d. 1988)
- 1962 – Ralph Fiennes, English actor
- 1963 – Giuseppe Bergomi, Italian footballer
- 1967 – Dan Petrescu, Romanian footballer
- 1967 – Richey James Edwards, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers) (disappeared in 1995 and died in November 23, 2008 for 13 years and 16 days)
- 1968 - Luis Hernandez, Mexican footballer
- 1972 – Vanessa Paradis, French actress and singer
- 1972 - Franck Cammas, French sailor
- 1972 - Steffi Jones, German footballer
- 1973 - Heather Donahue, American actress
- 1975 – Dmitri Khokhlov, Russian footballer
- 1975 – Stanislav Neckar, Czech ice hockey player
- 1978 – Emmanuel Olisadebe, Nigerian-Polish footballer
- 1978 - Mia Tyler, American model
- 1979 – Jamie Langfield, Scottish footballer
- 1982 - Teko Modise, South African footballer
- 1984 – Basshunter, Swedish DJ and singer
- 1986 – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Nigerian Islamist militant
- 1988 – Leigh Halfpenny, Welsh rugby player
- 1989 – Jordin Sparks, American singer
- 1990 – Jean-Baptiste Maunier, French singer
Deaths[change]
- 69 – Vitellius, Roman Emperor (b. 15)
- 1603 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1566)
- 1646 - Peter Mogila, Moldovan religious figure (b. 1596)
- 1788 – Percival Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
- 1867 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician (b. 1788)
- 1880 – George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819)
- 1902 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychiatrist (b. 1840)
- 1917 – St. Francesca Xavier Cabrini, American Catholic saint (b. 1850)
- 1939 – Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
- 1940 – Nathanael West, American writer (b. 1903)
- 1943 – Beatrix Potter, British writer (b. 1866)
- 1959 – Gilda Gray, Polish-American singer (b. 1901)
- 1965 – Richard Dimbleby, British broadcaster (b. 1913)
- 1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American producer (b. 1902)
- 1988 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian activist (b. 1944)
- 1989 – Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright (b. 1906)
- 1995 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1995 – James Meade, British economist (b. 1907)
- 2002 – Joe Strummer, British musician (b. 1952)
- 2002 – Desmond Hoyte, Guyanese politician (b. 1929)
- 2007 - Julien Gracq, French writer (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Lansana Conte, President of Guinea (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Luis Francisco Cuellar, Colombian politician (b. 1940)
Observances[change]
- Winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), sometimes occurs on December 21
- Summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere), sometimes occurs on December 21
- Mother's Day (Indonesia)
- Unity Day (Zimbabwe)
- Dongzhi Festival (East Asia)
- National Mathematics Day (India)
