Tycho Brahe 1546-1601
Events December 14
867 - Adrian II becomes Pope
872 - John VIII becomes Pope
1287 - Zuider Zee sea wall collapses, killing over 50,000 people
1790 - Alexander Hamilton proposes creation of a Bank of the United States
1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state
1900 - Max Planck publishes his study of the quantum theory
1902 - First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean
1911 - First expedition reaches the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen
1927 - Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom
1939 - USSR expelled from the League of Nations
1946 - UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City
1947 - NASCAR founded
1964 - Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964 decided by U.S. Supreme Court
1981 - Israel annexes the Golan Heights
1989 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years.
2000 - The Texas 7 robs a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas. They stole police scanners that would be used in their following infamous heist.
2003 - The news of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's capture is finally announced.
2003 - Celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.
Births
1503 - Nostradamus, astrologer and mathematician (d. 1566)
1546 - Tycho Brahe, astronomer (d. 1601)
1640 (baptism date) - Aphra Behn, playwright, novelist (d. 1689)
1824 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter (d. 1898)
1866 - Roger Fry, artist, art critic (d. 1934)
1870 - Karl Renner, politician and President of Austria 1945-1950 (d. 1950)
1896 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
1896 - Jimmy Doolittle American World War II General (d. 1993)
1897 - Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
1902 - Frances Bavier, actress (d. 1989)
1908 - Morey Amsterdam, comedian, actor (d. 1996)
1909 - Edward Tatum, geneticist (d. 1975)
1911 - Spike Jones, comedian, musician (d. 1965)
1913 - Dan Dailey, actor (d. 1978)
1914 - Karl Carstens, politician and President of Germany 1979-1984 (d. 1992)
1919 - Shirley Jackson, writer (d. 1965)
1923 - Gerard Reve, Dutch writer
1932 - Charlie Rich, country music performer (d. 1995)
1935 - Lee Remick, actress (d. 1991)
1938 - Leonardo Boff, theologian
1939 - Ernie Davis, American football star (d. 1963)
1946 - Patty Duke, actress
1946 - Jane Birkin, actress
1946 - Michael Ovitz, film producer
1948 - Marianne Fritz, writer
1962 - Ginger Lynn Allen, pornographic film actress
1965 - Craig Biggio, baseball player
1979 - Michael Owen, football star
Deaths
1542 - James V of Scotland (b. 1512)
1788 - Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
1799 - George Washington, first President of the United States (b. 1732)
1861 - Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
1873 - Louis Agassiz, zoologist, geologist (b. 1807)
1963 - Dinah Washington, singer (b. 1924)
1964 - William Bendix, actor
1985 - Roger Maris, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1934)
1989 - Andrei D. Sakharov, physicist, Soviet dissident (b. 1929)
1990 - Friedrich Drrenmatt, writer (b. 1921)
1993 - Myrna Loy, actress (b. 1905)
1998 - Norman Fell, actor
1998 - Annette Strauss, philanthropist, former mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1924)