today.nukz.net: Almanac December 20

Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926), English schoolmaster and theologian, is best known as the author of the satirical novella Flatland (1884).

Events

69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.
217 – The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.
1192 – Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade.
1522 – Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
1924 – Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 – World War II: the Japanese bomb Calcutta.
1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
1959 – Unknown attackers murder the Walker family in Osprey, Florida.
1960 – The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1971 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes over as the fourth President of Pakistan.
1973 – The Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1977 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
1989 – United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft.
1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
1996 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
1999 – Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.
2005 – Aleksander Moisiu University was founded in Durrës, Albania.
2005 – US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
2007 – The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.

Births

1494 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician (d. 1555)
1537 – King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
1566 – Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
1579 – (baptized) John Fletcher, English playwright (d. 1625)
1626 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692)
1629 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
1717 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (d. 1787)
1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat (d. 1792)
1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
1792 – Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
1833 – Dr Samuel A. Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
1860 – Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
1861 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
1865 – Elsie de Wolfe, American socialite and interior decorator (d. 1950)
1868 – Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
1869 – Charles Grapewin, American actor (d. 1956)
1873 – Kanichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (d. 1948)
1874 – Frederick Steep, Canadian football player (d. 1956)
1881 – Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
1888 – Yitzhak Baer, German-born Israeli historian (d. 1980)
1888 – Fred Merkle, American baseball figure (d. 1958)
1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French-born actress (d. 1958)
1890 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1894 – Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek Greek general and interim Prime Minister (d. 1973)
1898 – Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
1902 – Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
1902 – The Prince George, Duke of Kent, British Royal Family (d. 1942)
1904 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
1904 – Spud Davis, baseball player (d. 1984)
1905 – Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricket player (d. 1992)
1907 – Paul Francis Webster, songwriter (d. 1984)
1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor (d. 1994)
1909 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian politician (d. 2000)
1911 – Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009)
1914 – Harry F. Byrd Jr, American politician
1915 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish writer and humorist (d. 1995)
1916 – Michel Chartrand, Quebec union leader (d. 2010)
1917 – David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade unionist and politician (d. 1988)
1918 – Audrey Totter, American actress
1922 – George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
1922 – Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter
1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician and broadcaster (d. 1980)
1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
1926 – Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
1926 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
1927 – Charlie Callas, American comedian (d. 2011)
1927 – Kim Young-sam, 14th President of South Korea
1931 – Mala Powers, American film actress (d. 2007)
1931 – Terry Sanders, American filmmaker
1932 – John Hillerman, American actor (Magnum, P.I.)
1932 – Leslie Adams, American composer and music educator
1933 – Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
1933 – Rik van Looy, Belgian cyclist
1935 – Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricket player
1938 – John Harbison, American composer
1940 – Pat Chapman, English Author, Founder The Curry Club
1941 – Tommy Cole, American makeup artist, actor and singer
1942 – Rana Bhagwandas, Former Pakistani Chief Justice
1942 – Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
1944 – Bobby Colomby, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1944 – Jean Fergusson, English actress
1945 – Peter Criss, American drummer and singer (Kiss)
1945 – Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010)
1946 – Uri Geller, Israeli mentalist
1946 – Lesley Judd, English TV presenter and dancer
1946 – Lloyd Mumphord, NFL football player
1946 – John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
1946 – Sonny Perdue, American politician, governor of Georgia
1946 – Dick Wolf, American television series creator
1947 – Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer
1948 – Alan Parsons, British music producer and artist
1948 – Stevie Wright, English-Australian musician and songwriter
1949 – Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
1949 – Cecil Cooper, American baseball player
1949 – Oscar Gamble, American baseball player
1949 – Leigh Hamilton, New Zealand-American actress (d. 2012)
1950 – Arturo Marquez, Mexican composer
1951 – Gilbert Montagné, French musician
1951 – Peter May, Scottish novelist and scriptwriter
1952 – Jenny Agutter, English actress
1952 – Sky Gilbert, Canadian writer
1954 – Michael Badalucco, American actor
1954 – Sandra Cisneros, American writer
1955 – David Breashears, American mountaineer
1955 – Ed Kuepper, German-born Australian musician (The Saints, Laughing Clowns)
1955 – Rory Markas, American sportscaster (d. 2010)
1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania
1956 – Blanche Baker, American actress
1956 – Guy Babylon, American keyboardist
1956 – Junji Hirata, Japanese wrestler
1957 – Billy Bragg, English singer-songwriter
1957 – Mike Watt, American bassist
1957 – Stephen Bicknell, British organ builder (d. 2007)
1957 – Joyce Hyser, American actress
1957 – Anna Vissi, Greek-Cypriot singer
1958 – James Thomson, American biologist
1959 – Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish politician
1959 – Trent Tucker, American basketball player
1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
1960 – Kim Ki-duk, Korean filmmaker
1961 – Mohammad Fouad, Arab singer and actor
1961 – Mike Keneally, American musician
1963 – Infanta Elena of Spain
1963 – Joel Gretsch, American actor
1963 – Iqbal Theba, Pakistani actor
1964 – Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist
1965 – Robert Cavanah, Scottish actor
1965 – Jim Carr, a Digital strategist
1965 – Rich Gannon, American football player
1966 – Matt Neal, British Race Driver
1966 – Chris Robinson, American singer (Black Crowes)
1966 – Myrra Malmberg, Swedish singer
1968 – Karl Wendlinger, Austrian racing driver
1968 – Joe Cornish, British comedian
1969 – Bobby Phills, American basketball player (d. 2000)
1970 – Nicole de Boer, Canadian actress
1970 – Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer
1970 – Alister McRae, Scottish rally driver
1970 – Jörg Schmidt, German footballer
1971 – Roger J. Beaujard, American musician
1972 – Anders Odden, Norwegian musician
1973 – David Nedohin, Canadian curler
1973 – Cory Stillman, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Die, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer
1975 – Jaydy Michel, Mexican model
1976 – Aubrey Huff, American baseball player
1976 – Jang Hyuk, Korean actor
1976 – Adam Powell, British businessman
1976 – Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch author
1976 – Nenad Vuckovic, Croatian footballer
1978 – Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer
1978 – Andrei Markov, Russian-Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Tony Moore, American comic book artist
1979 – David DeJesus, American baseball player
1979 – George Lamb, English radio and TV presenter
1979 – Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist
1979 – Ramón Rodríguez, Puerto-Rican American Actor
1980 – Israel Castro, Mexican footballer
1980 – Ashley Cole, English footballer
1980 – Fitz Hall, English footballer
1980 – Tony, French-born Portuguese footballer
1980 – Martín Demichelis, Argentine footballer
1981 – Roy Williams, American football player
1981 – James Shields, American baseball player
1981 – Royal Ivey, American basketball player
1982 – David Cook, American singer
1982 – David Wright, American baseball player
1982 – David Tavaré, Spanish singer
1982 – Keny Arkana, French rapper & singer
1982 – Mohammed Asif, Pakistani cricket player
1982 – Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer
1983 – Jonah Hill, American actor
1983 – Chelsea Johnson, American pole vaulter
1983 – Lucy Pinder, British model
1983 – Darren Sammy, St. Lucian cricketer
1983 – Adrián Varela, Mexican singer
1983 – Lara Stone, Dutch model
1984 – Nikolaos Karabelas, Greek footballer
1986 – Benjamin Brierley, English-born German rugby player
1986 – Anoop Desai, American singer
1987 – Tariel Zintiridis, Greek judoka
1988 – Andrés Bottiglieri Italian–Argentine footballer
1989 – Allan Hyde Danish actor
1990 – JoJo, American singer
1991 – Hunter Gomez, American actor
1992 – Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater

Deaths

217 – Pope Zephyrinus
860 – King Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
910 – Alfonso III of Leon (b. 848)
1022 – Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
1355 – Stefan Dušan, Emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
1494 – Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet (b. 1434)
1524 – Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician (b. 1460)
1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
1695 – John Bowne, English-born American pioneer of religious liberty (b. 1627)
1722 – Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (b. 1652)
1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)
1765 – Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV; father of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X (b. 1729)
1768 – Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
1786 – Hannah Ocuish, Native American convicted murderer (b. 1774)
1812 – Sacagawea, Native American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (b. 1788)
1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (b. 1820)
1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American soldier (b. 1797)
1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian writer, painter and composer (b. 1863)
1916 – Louis de Champsavin, French horse rider (b. 1867)
1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French racing cyclist (b. 1882)
1920 – Linton Hope, English naval architect and yachtsman (b. 1863)
1921 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)
1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
1927 – Roshan Singh, Indian nationalist (b.1892)
1929 – Émile Loubet, French statesman (b. 1838)
1935 – Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (b. 1882)
1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
1938 – Matilda Howell, American archer (b. 1859)
1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
1954 – James Hilton, British author (b. 1900)
1956 – Ramon Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist (b. 1906)
1961 – Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
1961 – Earle Page, Australian politician (b. 1880)
1968 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1971 – Roy O. Disney, American entertainment industry executive (b. 1893)
1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (b. 1904)
1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
1974 – André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
1976 – Richard J. Daley, American politician (b. 1902)
1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born American pianist (b. 1887)
1984 – Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1946)
1986 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959)
1988 – Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian television executive (b. 1908)
1989 – Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
1991 – Simone Beck, French chef (b. 1904)
1991 – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942)
1991 – Sam Rabin, British wrestler, sculptor and singer (b. 1903)
1994 – Dean Rusk, American diplomat (b. 1909)
1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
1997 – Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b. 1923)
1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
1997 – Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
1998 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
1998 – C. P. Lyons, Canadian naturalist and author (b. 1915)
1999 – Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
1999 – Riccardo Freda, Italian film director (b. 1909)
2000 – Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bangladeshi statesman and philanthropist (b. 1920)
2001 – Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese politician (b. 1906)
2002 – Bernard King, Australian chef and television personality (b. 1934)
2005 – Maniam Moorthy, Malaysian climber
2006 – Shi Yuejun, Chinese serial killer (b. 1970)
2006 – Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929)
2006 – Piergiorgio Welby, Italian poet and activist (b.1945)
2007 – Nataline Sarkisyan, American medical patient (b. 1990)
2008 – Adrian Mitchell, English poet (b. 1932)
2009 – Jack Hixon, English football talent scout (b. 1921)
2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
2009 – Arnold Stang, American comic actor (b. 1918)
2009 – Mairoon Ali, Trinidadian comedienne and actress (b. 1954)
2010 – Brian Hanrahan, British journalist (b. 1949)
2010 – Steve Landesberg, American actor and comedian (b. 1936)
2010 – James R. Mann, American attorney and politician (b. 1920)
2011 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright (b. 1926)