On This Day

What Happened in December 1882

Historical Events

  • Dec 2 Amsterdam Artis Zoo opens aquarium
  • Dec 6 Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Dec 10 Johannes Brahms' "Gesang der Parzen" (Song of the Fates) premieres

Composer and Conductor Johannes Brahms
Composer and Conductor
Johannes Brahms
  • Dec 11 Boston's Bijou Theatre, 1st American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, 1st performance, Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe"

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Dec 11 Victorien Sardous "Fedora" with Sarah Bernhardt, premieres in Paris

Stage and Film Actress Sarah Bernhardt
Stage and Film Actress
Sarah Bernhardt

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Dec 14 Henry Morton Stanley returns to Brussels from the Congo

Journalist and Explorer Henry Morton Stanley
Journalist and Explorer
Henry Morton Stanley

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Dec 22 1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison

Inventor Thomas Edison
Inventor
Thomas Edison

Famous Birthdays

  • Dec 7 Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer (great NSW & Aussie opening bat 1909-26), Warren, New South Wales (d. 1954)
  • Dec 8 Manuel Ponce, Mexican composer (Estrellita), born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico (d. 1948)
  • Dec 9 Joaquín Turina, Spanish pianist and composer (Rima), born in Seville, Spain (d. 1949)
  • Dec 10 Otto Neurath, Austrian-British philosopher (Foundation of Social Sciences), born in Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Empire (d. 1945)
  • Dec 11 Fiorello La Guardia, American politician (Mayor-R- 1933-45), born in NYC, New York (d. 1947)
  • Dec 11 Max Born, German physicist (quantum mechanics, Nobel 1954), born in Breslau, Germany (d. 1970)
  • Dec 11 Subramania Bharati, Indian poet and independence activist, born in Ettayapuram, Tirunelveli district, British India (d. 1921)
  • Dec 12 Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (openings theorist), born in Stawiski, Poland (d. 1961)
  • Dec 16 Jack Hobbs, English cricketer known as "The Master" and the leading run-scorer (61,760 runs) and century-maker in first-class cricket (199 centuries), born in Cambridge, England (d. 1963)
  • Dec 16 Walther Meissner, German physicist (Meissner effect)
  • Dec 16 Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer and ethno-musicologist, (Psalmus Hungaricus; Hary Janos), born in Kecskemét, Hungary (d. 1967)
  • Dec 19 Walter Braunfels, German composer (Die Vögel -The Birds), born in Frankfurt am Main (d. 1954)
  • Dec 28 Arthur Eddington, English astrophysicist, cosmologist and mathematician (stars), born in Kendal, Westmorland, England (d. 1944)

Person of interestLili Elbe

Dec 28 Lili Elbe [born Einar Wegener], Danish transgender woman, former painter, and 1st identifiable recipient of sex reassignment surgery (autobiography: Man into Woman), born in Vejle, Denmark (d. 1931)

Painter and 1st Recipient of Gender-Reassignment Surgery Lili Elbe
Painter and 1st Recipient of Gender-Reassignment Surgery
Lili Elbe
  • Dec 31 Ben A. Jones, American horse trainer (US Champion trainer by earnings 1941, 43, 44, 52; Kentucky Derby x 6 including Citation, Whirlaway), born in Parnell, Missouri (d. 1961)
  • Dec 31 David Cohen, Dutch historian and chairman of the Jewish Council, born in Deventer, Holland (d. 1967)

Famous Deaths

  • Dec 3 Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1811)
  • Dec 6 Alfred Escher, Swiss politician and railroad entrepreneur (b. 1819)
  • Dec 6 Anthony Trollope, English novelist and poet (Barchester Towers), dies at 67
  • Dec 12 Robert Morris, 1st successful African American lawyer and abolitionist, dies at 59
  • Dec 31 Leon Michel Gambetta, French attorney and 37th Prime Minister of France (1881-82), dies at 44