today.nukz.net: Almanac December 10

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace (10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852), born Augusta Ada Byron and now commonly known as Ada Lovelace, was an English mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. Because of this, she is often considered the world's first computer programmer.

Ada was the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron and his wife Anne Isabella Byron. She had no relationship with her father, who separated from her mother just a month after Ada was born, and four months later he left England forever and died in Greece in 1823 when she was eight. As a young adult, she took an interest in mathematics, and in particular Babbage's work on the analytical engine. Between 1842 and 1843, she translated an article by Italian mathematician Luigi Menabrea on the engine, which she supplemented with a set of notes of her own. These notes contain what is considered the first computer program – that is, an algorithm encoded for processing by a machine. Ada's notes are important in the early history of computers. She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating or number-crunching while others, including Babbage himself, focused only on these capabilities.

Events

220 – Cao Pi forces Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the Han Dynasty throne. The Cao Wei empire is established. The Three Kingdoms period begins.
1041 – The adopted son of Empress Zoe of Byzantium succeeds to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
1665 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter
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 Edmund Halley.
1799 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.
1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
1861 – American Civil War: the Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
1861 – Forces led by Nguyen Trung Truc, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sink the French lorcha L'Esperance.
1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.
1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
1869 – Kappa Sigma Fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
1884 – Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published for the first time.
1898 – Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
1899 – Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
1902 – Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania.
1904 – The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston.
1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
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 that have been vivisected.
1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
1911 – The first transcontinental flight across the United States is completed. Calbraith Perry Rodgers began the flight on 17 September 1911, taking off from Sheepshead Bay NY.
1927 – The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" is used for the first time on-air.
1932 – Thailand adopts a constitution and becomes a constitutional monarchy.
1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, is awarded to halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago.
1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.
1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near Malaya.
1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines – Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
1948 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
1955 – The Mighty Mouse Playhouse premieres on television.
1965 – The Grateful Dead's first concert performance under this new name.
1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo.
1976 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
1976 – The 9th Congress of the Sammarinese Communist Party convenes
1978 – Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1979 – Kaohsiung Incident: Taiwanese pro-democracy demonstrations are suppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and organizers are arrested.
1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the assumption of President Raúl Alfonsín.
1989 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia's democratic movement that changes the second oldest communist country into a democracy.
1993 – The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages.
1994 – Rwandan Genocide: Military advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.

Births

1394 – King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)
1452 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
1588 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (d. 1637)
1713 – Johann Nicolaus Mempel, German musician (d. 1747)
1751 – George Shaw, English botanist and zoologist (d. 1813)
1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)
1804 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
1805 – Josef Skoda, Bohemian physician (d. 1881)
1815 – Ada Lovelace, English mathematician (d. 1852)
1821 – Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (d. 1877)
1822 – César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
1824 – George MacDonald, Scottish writer and preacher (d. 1905)
1827 – Eugene O'Keefe, Canadian businessman (d. 1913)
1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
1851 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, (d. 1931)
1866 – Louis Bolk, Dutch anatomist (d. 1930)
1870 – Mary Bonaparte, French noble (d. 1947)
1870 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (d. 1933)
1870 – Pierre Louÿs, French author (d. 1925)
1878 – Rajaji, 1st Governor General of India (d. 1972)
1880 – Fred Immler, German actor (d. 1965)
1880 – Charles King, American athlete (d. 1958)
1882 – Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher (d. 1945)
1882 – Louis Wilkins, American athlete (d. 1950)
1884 – Zinaida Serebriakova, Russian-born painter (d. 1967)
1885 – Marios Varvoglis, Greek Composer (d. 1967)
1886 – Annie Bos, Dutch actress (d. 1975)
1886 – Harold Alexander, English Army field marshal and aristocrat (d. 1969)
1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-born writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1903 – Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
1907 – Rumer Godden, English writer (d. 1998)
1907 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer (d. 2005)
1908 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
1909 – Hermes Pan, American choreographer (d. 1990)
1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
1912 – Philip A. Hart, American politician (d. 1976)
1913 – Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
1913 – Pannonica de Koenigswarter, English-born scion and writer (d. 1988)
1913 – Harry Locke, English actor (d. 1987)
1914 – Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
1916 – Rafael Ruiz, Spanish hockey player (d. 2006)
1917 – Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
1918 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (d. 2003)
1918 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey coach (d. 1995)
1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer (d. 2008)
1920 – Clarice Lispector, Ukrainian-Brazilian writer (d. 1977)
1920 – Reginald Rose, American writer (d. 2002)
1922 – Lucía Hiriart, First Lady of Chile
1923 – Harold Gould, American actor (d. 2010)
1924 – Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 1997)
1925 – Jean Byron, American actress (d. 2006)
1925 – Carolyn Kizer, American poet
1928 – Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
1928 – John Colicos, Canadian actor (d. 2000)
1933 – Philip R. Craig, American mystery author
1933 – Mako, Japanese-born American actor (d. 2006)
1934 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
1935 – Terry Allcock, English footballer
1938 – Yuri Temirkanov, Russian orchestra conductor
1939 – Dick Bavetta, American basketball referee
1939 – Barry Cunliffe, English professor
1941 – Fionnula Flanagan, Irish actress
1941 – Tommy Kirk, American actor
1941 – Tommy Rettig, American actor (d. 1996)
1941 – Chad Stuart, English singer (Chad and Jeremy)
1944 – Steve Renko, American baseball player
1945 – Mukhtar Altynbayev, Kazakhstan Minister of Defense
1946 – Thomas Lux, American poet
1947 – Douglas Kenney, American humorist (d. 1980)
1947 – R?sul Quliyev, Azerbaijani politician
1947 – Rainer Seifert, German field hockey player
1948 – Abu Abbas, Syrian radical miltant leader (d. 2004)
1950 – John Boozman, American politician
1951 – Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer
1952 – Clive Anderson, English television presenter
1952 – Susan Dey, American actress
1952 – Greg Mortimer, Australian mountaineer
1953 – Chris Bury, American journalist
1954 – Jack Hues, English musician
1955 – Nazir Sabir, Pakistani mountaineer
1956 – Rod Blagojevich, American politician
1956 – Roberto Cassinelli, Italian politician
1956 – Jacquelyn Mitchard, American journalist and author
1956 – Jan van Dijk, Dutch football player and manager
1957 – Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)
1957 – Paul Hardcastle, English composer and musician
1957 – Prem Rawat, Indian spiritual leader and speaker
1958 – Pepsi Demacque, English singer
1958 – Cornelia Funke, German author
1958 – John J. York, American actor
1959 – Mark Aguirre, American basketball player
1959 – Udi Aloni, American-Israeli filmmaker, writer, and activist
1959 – Wolf Hoffmann, German musician (Accept)
1960 – Michael Schoeffling, American actor
1960 – Sir Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
1961 – Nia Peeples, American singer and actress
1961 – Oded Schramm, Israel-born American mathematician
1962 – John de Wolf, Dutch footballer
1963 – Jahangir Khan, Pakistani squash player
1964 – Stef Blok, Dutch politician
1964 – Bobby Flay, American chef and restaurateur
1964 – George Newbern, American actor
1965 – Greg Giraldo, American comedian (d. 2010)
1965 – J Mascis, American musician
1965 – Stephanie Morgenstern, Canadian actress
1966 – Mel Rojas, Dominican baseball player
1969 – Rob Blake, Canadian ice hockey player
1970 – Bryant Stith, American basketball player
1971 – Bill Baroni, American politician
1971 – Brian Nichols, American spree killer
1972 – Donovan Frankenreiter, American surfer
1972 – Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and songwriter (Placebo)
1974 – Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
1975 – Steve Bradley, American wrestler (d. 2008)
1975 – Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
1975 – Kristel Verbeke, Belgian singer, actress and TV host
1977 – Mr. Águila, Mexican wrestler
1977 – Emmanuelle Chriqui, Canadian actress
1978 – Summer Phoenix, American actress
1979 – Matt Bentley, American wrestler
1980 – Sarah Chang, American violinist
1980 – Massari, Lebanese-born Canadian singer
1981 – Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
1981 – Ryan Pini, Papua New Guinea swimmer
1981 – Fábio Rochemback, Brazilian footballer
1982 – Shilpa Anand, Indian film and TV actress
1982 – Claudia Hoffmann, German sprinter
1983 – Patrick Flueger, American actor
1983 – Habib Mohamed, Ghanaian footballer
1983 – Xavier Samuel, Australian actor
1983 – Katrin Siska, Estonian singer
1984 – Mark Applegarth, English rugby player
1984 – Jayson Paul, American wrestler
1985 – Matt Forte, American football player
1985 – T. J. Hensick, American ice hockey player
1985 – Trésor Mputu, Congolese footballer
1985 – Charlie Adam, Scottish footballer
1985 – Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer
1986 – Matthew Bates, English footballer
1987 – Gonzalo Higuaín, French-born Argentine footballer
1988 – Mitchell Donald, Dutch footballer
1988 – Wilfried Bony, Ivorian footballer
1989 – Ng Chee Yang, Singaporean singer
1990 – Kazenga LuaLua, Congolese-born English footballer
1990 – Shoya Tomizawa, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2010)
1994 – Matti Klinga, Finnish football player

Deaths

949 – Herman I, Duke of Swabia
1041 – Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
1198 – Averroes, Cordoban philosopher and polymath (b. 1126)
1508 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
1603 – William Gilbert, English physicist and physician (b. 1544)
1618 – Giulio Caccini, Italian composer (b. 1551)
1626 – Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
1665 – Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer
1677 – Samuel Gorton, English activist and writer (b. 1593)
1736 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese prince and military leader (b. 1663)
1831 – Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
1850 – François Sulpice Beudant, French geologist (b. 1787)
1850 – Józef Bem, Polish general (b. 1794)
1865 – King Leopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
1896 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor, Nobel Prize founder (b. 1833)
1909 – Red Cloud, Native American Sioux chief (b. 1822)
1911 – Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (b. 1817)
1914 – Robert Williams, American archer (b. 1841)
1917 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell, Canadian politician (b. 1823)
1920 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturer (b. 1868)
1922 – Clement Lindley Wragge, English-born meteorologist (b. 1852)
1926 – Nikola Pašic, Serbian politician (b. 1845)
1928 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect and illustrator (b. 1868)
1936 – Bobby Abel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
1936 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
1939 – John Grieb, American gymnast and athlete (b. 1879)
1941 – Colin Kelly, American bomber pilot (b. 1915)
1944 – John Brunt, English military officer (b. 1922)
1945 – Theodor Dannecker, German Nazi officer (b. 1913)
1946 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
1946 – Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)
1948 – Na Hye-sok, Korean poeter, feminist writer and painter, educators, journalists. (b. 1896)
1951 – Algernon Blackwood, English writer (b. 1869)
1953 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)
1956 – David Shimoni, Israeli poet and writer (b. 1891)
1958 – Adolfo Camarillo, American horse breeder (b. 1864)
1967 – Otis Redding, American singer (b. 1941)
1967 – Ronnie Caldwell, American musician (b. 1948)
1967 – Phalon Jones, American musician (b. 1949)
1968 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
1968 – George Forrest, Northern Irish politician (b. 1921)
1968 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
1973 – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist (b. 1922)
1977 – Adolph Rupp, American basketball coach (b. 1901)
1978 – Edward D. Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)
1979 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (b. 1912)
1982 – Freeman Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
1986 – Susan Cabot, American actress (b. 1927)
1986 – Kate Wolf, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
1987 – Jascha Heifetz, Russian violinist (b. 1901)
1988 – Richard S. Castellano, American actor (b. 1933)
1988 – Johnny Lawrence, English cricketer (b. 1911)
1990 – Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898)
1991 – Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
1991 – Headman Shabalala, South African singer (Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (b. 1945)
1992 – Dan Maskell, English tennis commentator (b. 1908)
1993 – Alice Tully, American music promoter and philanthropist (b. 1902)
1994 – Keith Joseph, English politician (b. 1918)
1994 – Alex Wilson, Canadian athlete (b. 1905)
1995 – Darren Robinson, American rapper (The Fat Boys) (b. 1967)