December 2010 in History

Events in History

Event of Interest

Dec 6 Record price for a printed book when a first edition of "The Birds of America" by John James Audubon auctioned at Sotheby's, London, England, for £7,321,250

Dec 7 Iceland officially leaves the recession with growth of 1.2% in the third quarter

Event of Interest

Dec 8 With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft.

Nobel Prize

Dec 10 Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Stockholm, while imprisoned in China

Dec 11 Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.
Dec 12 Mosconi Cup nine-ball pool, London, England: Europe regains title with an 11-8 win over US; MVP: Darren Appleton (England)

Event of Interest

Dec 22 Repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy", a 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the US military, signed into law by President Barack Obama

Deaths in History

Dec 1 Hillard Elkins, American theatre and film producer (b. 1929)
Dec 3 Abdumalik Bahori, Tajik poet and fiction writer (b.1927)
Dec 6 Mark Dailey, Canadian television journalist and announcer (b. 1953)
Dec 7 Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and wife of John Edwards (b. 1949)
Dec 9 Dov Shilansky, Israeli politician (b. 1924)
Dec 9 John du Pont, American member of the Du Pont family and convicted murderer (b. 1938)
Dec 10 J. Michael Hagopian, Turkish-born American documentarian (b. 1913)
Dec 10 John Bennett Fenn, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
Dec 13 Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)
Dec 14 Timothy Davlin, American politician, dies at 53
Dec 15 Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American political scientist (b. 1940)
Dec 16 Mary Jane Odell, American politician and journalist, Iowa Secretary of State, dies at 87
Dec 16 Melvin E. Biddle, American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1923)
Dec 18 Jacqueline de Romilly, French philologist and classical scholar (b. 1913)
Dec 18 James Pickles, English judge and columnist, dies at 85
Dec 18 Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italian banker and economist (b. 1940)

Dec 19 Anthony Howard, English Journalist (b. 1934)
Dec 20 Brian Hanrahan, British journalist (b. 1949)
Dec 20 James R. Mann, American attorney and politician (b. 1920)
Dec 23 Fred Hargesheimer, American World War II pilot (b. 1916)
Dec 23 K. Karunakaran, Indian politician (b. 1918)
Dec 24 Elisabeth Beresford, British author and creator of The Wombles (b. 1926)
Dec 24 Orestes Quércia, Brazilian politician (b. 1938)
Dec 24 Roy Neuberger, American financier and art patron (Neuberger Museum of Art), dies at 107
Dec 25 Carlos Andrés Pérez, President of Venezuela (1974-79, 89-94), dies at 88
Dec 26 Edward Bhengu, South African activist (b. 1934)
Dec 28 Trevor Holdsworth, CEO (National Power), dies at 83
Dec 30 Ellis Clarke, First President of Trinidad & Tobago (1976-87), dies at 93
Dec 30 Roger Milliken, American millionaire (CEO of Milliken & Company), dies at 95