Events 1 - 200 of 234
- 741 Pope Zachary elected
- 1041 Michael IV, Paphlagonicus, Byzantium Emperor dies of results of dropsy. His wife Empress Zoe elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
- 1294 Pope Coelestinus V becomes Pope (until Dec 13th)
- 1508 League of the kingdom signed (covenant against Venice)
Event of Interest
1510 Muslim ruler of Goa, Yusuf Adil Shah and his Ottoman allies surrender to Portuguese forces led by Afonso de Albuquerque who puts the Muslim population to the sword
Afonso de Albuquerque
The Protestant Reformation
1520 Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant
More >>
Event of Interest
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 Edmond Halley
Edmond Halley
Isaac Newton
- 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army reaches Manchester
- 1768 First part (number) of the Encyclopedia Britannica published in Edinburgh, Scotland
- 1799 Metric system adopted in France, first country to do so
- 1810 Tom Cribb (GB) beats Tom Molineaus (US-Negro) in 1st interracial boxing championship (40 rounds)
- 1816 Dutch regain Sumatra from the British
- 1817 Mississippi admitted as 20th state of the Union
- 1831 "Spirit of the Times" begins publishing in New York City, the premier sports journal of the 19th century
- 1836 Emory College (now Emory University) is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.
Event of Interest
1864 General Sherman's armies reach Savannah & 12 day siege begins
William Tecumseh Sherman
Historic Publication
1884 "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain is first published in the UK and Canada (US Feb 1885, due to printing error)
Mark Twain
- 1887 Austria-Hungary, Italy and Great Britain sign Balkan military treaty
- 1896 Alfred Jarry's "Ubu Roi" premieres in Paris
- 1898 Spanish-American War formally ended by the Treaty of Paris; US acquires Philippines, Puerto Rico & Guam
- 1898 The first western pilgrims were welcomed at The House of `Abdu'lláh Páshá
- 1899 -15] British "Black Week" due to defeats in South Africa
- 1899 Battle at Storm Berge South Africa - Boers vs British army
- 1899 Frank Wedekind's "Der Kammersänger" premieres in Berlin
- 1899 The Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
- 1901 First Nobel Peace Prizes awarded to Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy
Nobel Prize
1901 First Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays
Wilhelm Röntgen
- 1902 Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania.
Nobel Prize
1902 German organic chemist Emil Fischer is award the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on sugar and purine syntheses
Emil Fischer
Nobel Prize
1903 Nobel Prize for physics awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Nobel Prize
1904 John William Strutt [Lord Rayleigh] and William Ramsay are presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery of Argon
John William Strutt
Nobel Prize
1906 US President Theodore Roosevelt is the 1st American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Theodore Roosevelt
Nobel Prize
1906 Frenchman Henri Moissan is presented with the Nobel prize for Chemistry for isolating Fluoride
Henri Moissan
Nobel Prize
1907 Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel prize for literature, the first English-language writer to do so
Rudyard Kipling
- 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 who have been vivisected.
Nobel Prize
1910 Dutch Physicist Johannes van der Waals wins the Nobel Prize for physics
Johannes van der Waals
Nobel Prize
1912 Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Gustaf Dalén for inventing automatic regulators for gas accumulators for lighthouses and buoys
Gustaf Dalén
- 1913 Dutch scientist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes receives Nobel prize for physics
Nobel Prize
1913 Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore becomes the first non-European to be presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature for "Gitanjali"
Nobel Prize
1919 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to US President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Nobel Prize
1920 August Krogh is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the regulation mechanisms of capillaries in skeletal muscle
August Krogh
Nobel Prize
1922 Danish physicist Niels Bohr awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, for work on the structure of atoms, at a ceremony in Copehagen
Niels Bohr
Nobel Prize
1925 Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
George Bernard Shaw
- 1926 1st radio broadcast in the Sprinfield area (WCBS)
Historic Publication
1926 2nd part of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf published
Adolf Hitler
- 1927 "Grand Ole Opry" first named as such during Barn Dance radio broadcast, in Nashville, Tennessee
Nobel Prize
1929 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine jointly awarded to Christiaan Eijkman and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins for the discovery of vitamins
Christiaan Eijkman
- 1930 Indian Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman is presented with the Nobel Prize for Physics for work on light scattering - first Asian and non-white to win a Science Nobel
Nobel Prize
1930 German chemist Hans Fischer is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on haemin
Hans Fischer
Nobel Prize
1931 Jane Addams (1st US woman) named co-recipient of Nobel Peace Prize
Jane Addams
Election of Interest
1931 Manuel Azaña becomes Prime Minister of Spain with Niceto Zamora as President
Manuel Azaña
Nobel Prize
1933 Nobel Prize for Physics is presented to Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrödinger "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory"
Paul Dirac
Erwin Schrödinger
- 1934 Fascist dictator of Latvia Ulmanis begins building concentration camp
- 1934 NFL adopts player waiver rule; applies after 6th game of season
- 1934 Saint-Adelbert cooperation formed by Catholic elite
- 1935 As sell Jimmie Foxx to the Red Sox for $150,000
- 1935 White Sox sell Al Simmons to the Tigers for $75,000
Nobel Prize
1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded to Irene Joliot-Curie (daughter of Marie Curie) and her husband Frédéric Joliot for the discovery of artificial radioactivity
Irene Joliot-Curie
Nobel Prize
1935 James Chadwick is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the neutron
James Chadwick
- 1936 Stockholm: physicist PBJ Debije receives Nobel prize for chemistry
Event of Interest
1936 Britain replaces King Edward VIII stamp series with King George VI
George VI
Edward VIII
Event of Interest
1936 Edward VIII signs Instrument of Abdication, giving up the British throne to marry American divoree Wallis Simpson
Wallis Simpson
Edward VIII
Nobel Prize
1936 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Carlos Saavedra Lamas for mediating end to Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, 1st Latin American to win
Carlos Saavedra Lamas
Nobel Prize
1938 Italian scientist Enrico Fermi receives the Nobel Prize for Physics (work on reduced radioactivity)
Enrico Fermi
- 1939 National Football League Championship, Dairy Bowl, West Allis, Wisconsin: Green Bay Packers beat New York Giants, 27-0; Packers 5th title
- 1939 KNVB celebrates 50th anniversary
- 1940 British anti-offensive in Libya (Sidi Barrani)
- 1940 1941 NFL Draft: Tom Harmon from University of Michigan first pick by Chicago Bears
- 1941 British battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse (Force Z ) sunk following Japanese aerial attacks off Malaya. 840 men die
- 1941 Japanese troops landed on northern Luzon in the Philippines
- 1941 Japanese troops overrun Guam
- 1942 Adolf Hitler names Anton Mussert "leader of the Dutch people"
- 1942 North Africa: 5th German panzer army forms under col-gen von Arnim
Event of Interest
1942 An early report the Holocaust prepared by the Polish government-in-exile, using information obtained by Witold Pilecki, is addressed to UN member states
Witold Pilecki
- 1943 British 8th Army (1st Canadian Infantry Division) occupies Orsogna/Ortona Italy
- 1944 9 Dutch citizens hanged by nazis
- 1944 German counter attack at Dillingen bridgehead on the Saar
- 1945 Aust Services lose 3rd Victory Test Cricket to India by 6 wkts
- 1945 Preston Tucker reveals plan to produce the Torpedo, a new 150 MPH car
Nobel Prize
1946 German/Swiss novelist Hermann Hesse wins the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his inspired writings which, while growing in boldness and penetration, exemplify the classical humanitarian ideals and high qualities of style"
Hermann Hesse
Nobel Prize
1950 Ralph Bunche (1st black American) presented the Nobel Peace Prize for mediation in Israel
Ralph Bunche
- 1952 Izhak Ben-Zvi elected 2nd president of Israel
- 1952 WSLS TV channel 10 in Roanoke, VA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" opens at Imperial NYC for 229 performances
- 1953 KOMO TV channel 4 in Seattle, WA (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WSTV (now WTOV) TV channel 9 in Steubenville-Wheeling, OH (CBS) begins
Nobel Prize
1954 Linus Pauling wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Linus Pauling
Nobel Prize
1960 Willard Libby wins the Nobel prize in Chemistry for his work developing carbon-14 dating (radiocarbon dating).
Willard Libby
Nobel Prize
1961 Robert Hofstadter and Rudolf Ludwig Mössbauer win the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering studies of electron scattering in atomic nuclei and discoveries concerning the structure of the nucleon
Robert Hofstadter
- 1962 Hunters Point (San Francisco) jitney ends service after 50 years
Film Premier
1962 David Lean's film "Lawrence of Arabia", based on life of T. E. Lawrence and starring Peter O'Toole, premieres at Odeon Leicester Square (Academy Awards Best Picture 1963)
David Lean
T. E. Lawrence
Nobel Prize
1963 Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta receive the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the technology of high polymers
Karl Ziegler
Nobel Prize
1964 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo
Martin Luther King Jr.
Nobel Prize
1964 Dorothy Hodgkin is the first British woman to be awarded the Nobel prize in Chemistry for work on penicillin and vitamin B12
Dorothy Hodgkin
Nobel Prize
1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Ragnar Granit, Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald "for discoveries about the make-up of the eye
George Wald
Boxing Title Fight
1968 Joe Frazier beats Oscar Bonavena in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
Joe Frazier
Nobel Prize
1971 West German Chancellor Willy Brandt receives the Nobel Peace Prize
Willy Brandt
Event of Interest
1973 First time since 1885, tennis has 2 top male players - Americans Stan Smith and Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
Nobel Prize
1975 Andrei Sakharov's wife Yelena Bonner, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize
Andrei Sakharov
Nobel Prize
1976 Samuel C. C. Ting is the first person to deliver a Nobel Prize lecture in Mandarin, during the ceremony to award him and Burton Richter the Nobel Prize for Physics for discovering the J/ψ particle
Samuel C. C. Ting
Nobel Prize
1978 Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat accept the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo
Anwar Sadat
Menachem Begin
- 1978 Islanders ends 15 game undefeated streak (12-0-3) to Canadians
Film Premier
1978 Superman: The Movie, directed by Richard Donner and starring Christopher Reeve, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder premieres at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
- 1979 Piet Dankert appointed as chairman of European Parliament
- 1980 Soyuz T-3 returns to Earth
- 1980 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1981 -13] El Salvador army kills 900
- 1981 Jules Feiffer's "Grownups" premieres in NYC
- 1981 The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia.
Boxing Title Fight
1982 Heavyweight Michael Doakes KOs Mike Weaver in 1:03 in Las Vegas
Mike Weaver
Nobel Prize
1983 Danuta Walesa, wife of Lech Wałęsa, accepts his Nobel Peace Prize
Lech Wałęsa
Tennis Open
1983 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova wins 8th career Grand Slam singles event; beats Kathy Jordan of the US 6-2, 7-6
Martina Navratilova
- 1984 1st "planet" outside our solar system discovered
Nobel Prize
1984 South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu is presented with his Nobel Peace Prize
Desmond Tutu
Film Premier
1985 "Out of Africa", based on the book by Isak Dinesen, directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford premieres in Los Angeles (Best Picture 1986)
Nobel Prize
1986 Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepts 1986 Nobel Peace Prize
Elie Wiesel
Event of Interest
1986 Ivan Lendl repeats previous year's result with a 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 win over Boris Becker to claim back-to-back season-ending ATP Masters Grand Prix tennis titles at Madison Square Garden, NYC
Ivan Lendl
Boris Becker
- 1987 "Nightline" is seen in USSR for 1st time
- 1988 Washington Capitals 1st NHL scoreless tie, vs Montreal Canadiens
- 1989 President Gustav Husak of Czechoslovakia, resigns
- 1990 Hindu-Muslim rebellion in Hyderabad-Aligargh India, 140 die
- 1990 Soyuz TM-10 lands
- 1990 Space Shuttle STS 35 (Columbia 11) lands
- 1991 "Crucible" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 32 performances
- 1991 IM Pei receives $5 million for design of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- 1991 Jackie Martling walks off of Howard Stern show for 1 day
Event of Interest
1991 Howard Spira sentenced to 2½ years in prison for trying to extort money from Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
George Steinbrenner
- 1992 "My Favorite Year" opens at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC for 37 performances
- 1992 NHL awards franchises to Miami & Anaheim for 1994-95
- 1992 NY Yankees sign free agent pitcher Jimmy Key
- 1992 Orlanda Magic scores 14 3-pointers (2 shy of record)
- 1993 Dow Jones hits record 3740.67
- 1994 60th Heisman Trophy Award: Rashaan Salaam, Colorado (RB)
- 1994 European Campaign against Racism "All different, All equal" begins
Nobel Prize
1994 Nobel Peace Prize presented to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Yitzhak Rabin
Shimon Peres
- 1995 1st meeting of NBA expansion teams, Raptors beat Grizzlies 93-81
- 1995 Kelly Robbins & Tammie Green wins LPGA Diner's Club Golf Matches
December in History
Real-life Tragedy for Theatrical Family
On this day a tragedy engulfed one of Britain’s noted theatrical families of the early 20th century.
December 8, 1926
Coronation Street, King of the Soaps
Thought to have no great future when launched on this day, Coronation Street still reigns supreme
December 9, 1960
Marconi's Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires
Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi's career received a big boost on this day with backing from the British Post Office.
December 11, 1896
A King Salutes Remarkable Woman Soldier
Whether she went to war out of love or duty, Phoebe Hessel, who died on this day, led a remarkable life on and off the battlefield.
December 12, 1821