December 1896 in History

Events in History

Dec 1 1st certified public accountants receive certificates (NY)

Theater Premiere

Dec 2 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Die versunkene Glocke" premieres in Berlin

Theater Premiere

Dec 5 Henrik Ibsen's play "Kejsor og Galileer" (Emperor and Galilean) premieres in Leipzig

Dec 6 D T Suzuki found the awakening at Engakuji temple, in Kamakura
Dec 10 Alfred Jarry's play "Ubu Roi" premieres in Paris

Marconi's Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires

Dec 11 Chief Electrical Engineer of the British Post Office, William Preece, gives a public lecture in London called "Telegraphy without Wires", praising the work of 22 year old Guglielmo Marconi

Marconi with his telegraphic box of tricks

Dec 14 The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company

Execution

Dec 30 Filipino nationalist José Rizal is executed by firing squad in Manila by the Spanish

Birthdays in History

Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974)

Dec 1 Russian deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Army during WWII (Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin) and Minister of Defense, born in Strelkovka, Kaluga

Dec 3 John Urzidil, Austrian-American writer (Die erbeuteten Frauen), born in Prague (d. 1970)
Dec 4 Nikolai Tichonov, Russian writer (against Pasternak), born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1979)
Dec 5 Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American bio-chemist (Nobel 1947-discovery of how glycogen (animal starch) – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and resynthesized in the body, for use as a store and source of energy), born in Prague (d. 1984)
Dec 5 Lady Huxley [Marie Juliette Baillot], Swiss sculptor and author, born in Auvernier, Switzerland (d. 1994)
Dec 5 Willem Frederik Meinhardt Lampe, Dutch ambassador of the Dutch Antilles, born in Netherlands Antilles (d. 1973)

Jimmy Doolittle (1896-1993)

Dec 14 American air force general who conducted the raid on Tokyo in 1942, born in Alameda, California

Dec 15 Betty Smith, American novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1972)
Dec 15 George Cressey, American geographer (Asia's Lands & Peoples), born in Tiffin, Ohio (d. 1963)

Miles Dempsey (1896-1969)

Dec 15 British WWII general (XIII Corps, Second Army), born in New Brighton, Cheshire

Dec 15 Paul Citroen, Dutch sculptor, born in Berlin (d. 1983)
Dec 19 John Seldon Whale, British theologian and lecturer, born in Cornwall, England (d. 1997)
Dec 21 Carl Romme, Dutch catholic foreman/KVP-min Socialist Business, born in Oirschot, Netherlands (d. 1980)
Dec 21 Constantine Rokossovski, Russian marshal/vice-premier of Poland, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1968)
Dec 22 Nikolay Semyonovich Tikhonov, Russian poet and writer, born in St Petersburg, Russia (d. 1979)
Dec 23 Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian prince and writer (The Leopard), born in Palermo, Sicily (d. 1957)
Dec 27 Carl Zuckmayer, German-Swiss-American playwright (Second Wind), born in Nackenheim, Germany (d. 1977)
Dec 27 Louis Bromfield, American writer (Early Autumn, Pulitzer-1926), born in Mansfield, Ohio (d. 1956)
Dec 29 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican social realist painter & muralist (Lib of Chile), born in Chihuahua, Mexico (d. 1974)

Weddings in History

José Rizal

Dec 30 Filipino Nationalist Jose Rizal (35) weds girlfriend Josephine Bracken (20) before his execution in Fort Santiago, Manila

Deaths in History

Dec 8 Ernst Engel, German statistician and economist (Law of Engel), dies at 75

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896)

Dec 10 Swedish chemist who invented dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize ceremony on this date, dies at 63

Dec 15 John GR Acquoy, Dutch theologian and church historian, dies at 67
Dec 26 Emil du Bois-Reymond, German physiologist, co-discoverer of nerve action potential and founder of modern electrophysiology, dies at 78
Dec 27 John Brown, British manufacturer (b. 1816)