today.nukz.net: Almanac December 26

Charles Babbage, FRS (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered a "father of the computer", Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer that eventually led to more complex designs.

Parts of his uncompleted mechanisms are on display in the London Science Museum. In 1991, a perfectly functioning difference engine was constructed from Babbage's original plans. Built to tolerances achievable in the 19th century, the success of the finished engine indicated that Babbage's machine would have worked. Nine years later, the Science Museum completed the printer Babbage had designed for the difference engine.

Events

1135 – Coronation of King Stephen of England.
1481 – Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian mercenaries.
1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
1793 – Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeat Austria.
1793 – The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
1799 – Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist revolt in Saint Petersburg.
1846 – Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
1860 – The first ever inter-club association football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England, United Kingdom.
1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
1870 – The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
1883 – The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
1900 – A relief crew arrives at the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, UK, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace.
1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
1925 – Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
1976 – The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) is founded.
1982 – Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
1996 – Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
1997 – The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
1999 – The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train.
2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
2006 – An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260.

Births

1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
1532 – Wilhelm Xylander, German classical scholar (d. 1576)
1536 – Yi I, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1584)
1646 – Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (d. 1755)
1716 – Thomas Gray, English writer (d. 1771)
1716 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (d. 1803)
1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German writer (d. 1807)
1737 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Austrian general (d. 1815)
1751 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian missionary and saint (d. 1820)
1771 – Julie Clary, queen consort of Naples (d. 1845)
1780 – Mary Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
1782 – Philaret Drozdov, Metropolitan of Moscow (d. 1867)
1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)
1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American novelist (d. 1899)
1820 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
1837 – George Dewey, American admiral (d. 1917)
1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American politician, 54th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1922)
1853 – René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
1859 – William Stephens, American politician and 24th Governor of California (d. 1944)
1863 – Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (d. 1957)
1867 – Phan Boi Chau, Vietnamese nationalist (d. 1940)
1872 – Norman Angell, British politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French artist (d. 1955)
1887 – Arthur Percival, British Army officer (d. 1966)
1888 – Marius Canard, French Orientalist (d. 1982)
1890 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (d. 1992)
1891 – Henry Miller, American writer (d. 1980)
1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
1894 – Jean Toomer, American writer (d. 1967)
1899 – Udham Singh, Indian Freedom Fighter(d.1940)
1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
1905 – William Loeb III, American newspaper publisher, (d. 1981)
1906 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2003)
1907 – Al Gore Sr., American Politician (d. 1998)
1911 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (d. 1962)
1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
1914 – Annemarie Wendl, German actress (d. 2006)
1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
1918 – Georgios Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
1921 – Steve Allen, American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer (d. 2000)
1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
1924 – Frank Broyles, American athlete, long time athletic director of the University of Arkansas
1926 – Earle Brown, American composer (d. 2002)
1926 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
1927 – Alan King, American comedian (d. 2004)
1927 – Stu Miller, American baseball player
1927 – Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
1927 – Denis Gifford, film, comic and cultural historian (d. 2000)
1929 – Régine Zylberberg, French singer and nightclub owner
1930 – Donald Moffat, English-born actor
1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer and songwriter
1933 – Ugly Dave Gray, Australian television personality
1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer
1935 – Abdul "Duke" Fakir, American singer (Four Tops)
1935 – Norm Ullman, Canadian hockey player
1937 – John Horton Conway, British mathematician
1937 – Jay Heimowitz, American poker player
1938 – Bahram Bayzai, Iranian playwright and film director
1938 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi film director (d. 1989)
1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian film director
1939 – Phil Spector, American music producer
1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel laureate
1940 – Ray Sadecki, American Major League Baseball pitcher
1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss film director (d. 2006)
1942 – Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemalan president
1942 – Catherine Coulter, American novelist
1942 – Gray Davis, American politician and 37th Governor of California
1944 – Jane Lapotaire, British actress
1945 – John Walsh, American talk show host
1946 – Alan Frumin, Parliamentarian of the United States Senate
1947 – James T. Conway, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
1947 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
1947 – Josef Janícek, Czech songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist, member of The Plastic People of the Universe
1947 – Richard L. McCormick, President of Rutgers University
1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
1949 – José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, Nobel laureate
1949 – Bob Hartman, Christian artist, guitarist, writer and songwriter (Petra)
1949 – Mikhail Boyarsky, Soviet/Russian actor and singer
1950 – Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Pakistani politician, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan
1951 – Richard Skinner, British radio presenter
1951 – John Scofield, American jazz guitarist
1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican politician and current President of the Dominican Republic
1953 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia
1953 – Henning Schmitz, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1954 – Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer
1954 – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player
1954 – Steve Steen, English actor
1954 – Tony Rosato, Italian-Canadian actor
1955 – Evan Bayh, American politician, 46th Governor of Indiana, and United States Senator from Indiana
1956 – David Sedaris, American essayist
1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, British broadcaster
1957 – Mike South, American pornographer
1958 – Adrian Newey, British engineer
1959 – Wang Lijun, Chinese police officer
1959 – Koji Morimoto, Japanese animated film director
1960 – Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
1960 – Christian Müller, German footballer
1960 – Jim Toomey, American syndicated cartoonist
1960 – Tina Wesson, Winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback
1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer
1961 – John Lynch, Irish actor
1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-born drummer (Metallica)
1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
1966 – Tim Legler, American basketball player
1966 – Jay Farrar, American musician and songwriter
1966 – Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
1966 – Jay Yuenger, American musician and producer
1968 – Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
1968 – Tricia Leigh Fisher, American actress
1970 – James Mercer, American musician (The Shins)
1970 – Krissada Terrence, Thai singer and actor
1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and singer (30 Seconds to Mars)
1971 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
1971 – Jonathan M. Parisen, American film director
1971 – Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-born American model and fashion editor
1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer
1972 – Shane Meadows, British filmmaker
1972 – Robert Muchamore, English children's author
1973 – Zach Blair, American guitarist (Rise Against)
1973 – Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player
1973 – Reichen Lehmkuhl, American television personality
1973 – Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer
1974 – Tiffany Brissette, American TV actress
1974 – Josie Ho, Hong Kong singer and actor
1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor
1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian rules footballer
1976 – Nadia Litz, Canadian actress
1976 – Lea De Mae, Czech actress (d. 2004)
1977 – Sofia Bekatorou, Greek yacht racer
1977 – Adrienn Hegedus, Hungarian tennis player
1978 – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Chris Daughtry, American singer
1979 – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
1979 – Craig Wing, Australian Rugby League Player
1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
1981 – Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
1982 – Kenneth Darby, American football player
1982 – Shun Oguri, Japanese actor and model
1982 – Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier
1984 – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player
1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
1984 – Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer
1985 – Beth Behrs, American actress
1985 – Yu Shirota, Japanese actor
1986 – Hugo Lloris, French footballer
1987 – Adam Walker, English flautist
1989 – Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter
1989 – Jennica Garcia, Filipino actress
1989 – Lecabela Quaresma, São Toméan runner
1989 – Ben Schumann, Australian actor
1990 – Andy Biersack, American singer-songwriter (Black Veil Brides)
1990 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
1992 – Kätlin Aas, Estonian fashion model
1992 – Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player
1994 – Samantha Boscarino, American actress
1994 – Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
1995 – Zach Mills, American actor
2000 – Samuel Sevian, American chess player

Deaths

268 – Pope Dionysius
418 – Pope Zosimus
1350 – Jean de Marigny, French bishop
1458 – Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
1476 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1444)
1530 – Babur, Emperor of the Mogul empire (b. 1483)
1574 – Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, French cardinal (b. 1524)
1624 – Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
1731 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
1771 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
1780 – John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
1784 – Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (b. 1743)
1786 – Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (b. 1713)
1869 – Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
1909 – Frederic Remington, American artist (b. 1861)
1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German Nazi politician (b. 1868)
1925 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (b. 1880)
1931 – Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal Classification (b. 1851)
1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (b. 1875)
1933 – Henry Watson Fowler, English schoolmaster and lexicographer (b. 1858)
1960 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
1963 – "Gorgeous" George Wagner, American professional wrestler and television personality (b. 1915)
1966 – Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
1970 – Lillian Board, British track and field athlete (b. 1948)
1972 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
1973 – Harold B. Lee, 11th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Arab composer (b. 1915)
1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian (b. 1894)
1974 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, British naval officer (b. 1890)
1977 – Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
1980 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
1981 – Amber Reeves, British feminist writer (b. 1887)
1981 – Savitri, Indian actress (b. 1937)
1983 – Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
1985 – Dian Fossey, American gorilla specialist (b. 1932)
1985 – Margarete Schön, German actress (b. 1895)
1985 – Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1928)
1986 – Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (b. 1902)
1988 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (b. 1907)
1988 – Pablo Sorozábal, Basque-Spanish composer (b. 1897)
1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
1990 – Gene Callahan, American film art and production designer (b. 1923)
1992 – Nikita Magaloff, Russian pianist (b. 1912)
1994 – Parveen Shakir, Pakistani poetess (b. 1952)
1996 – Kostas Palios, Greek actor (b. 1926)
1997 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (b. 1922)
1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American musician (b. 1942)
1999 – Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (b. 1918)
2000 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
2002 – Herb Ritts, American photographer (b. 1952)
2002 – Armand Zildjian, American cymbal manufacturer (b. 1921)
2004 – Troy Broadbridge, Australian rules footballer (b. 1980)
2004 – Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African heart surgeon (b. 1959)
2004 – Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
2004 – Khun Poom Jensen, Thai Royal Family member (b. 1983)
2004 – Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian jazz musician (b. 1959)
2004 – Sir Angus Ogilvy, British businessman (b. 1928)
2004 – Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish musician (b. 1962)
2004 – Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-born Swedish musician (Nasum) (b. 1974)
2004 – Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1937)
2005 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (b. 1937)
2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
2005 – Erich Topp, German submarine commander (b. 1914)
2006 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
2006 – Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier (b. 1951)
2006 – Munir Niazi, Urdu poet from Pakistan (b. 1928)
2007 – Joe Dolan, Irish entertainer (b. 1943)
2007 – John A. Garraty, American author (b. 1920)
2007 – Stu Nahan, American sportscaster (b. 1926)
2008 – Gösta Krantz, Swedish actor (b. 1925)
2009 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (b. 1958)
2010 – Teena Marie, American singer and composer (b. 1956)
2010 – Edward Bhengu, South African activist (b. 1934)
2011 – Houston Antwine, American football player (b. 1939)
2011 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican actor (b. 1940)
2011 – Sarekoppa Bangarappa, Indian politician (b. 1932)
2011 – Joe Bodolai, American comedy writer (b. 1948)
2011 – Fred Fono, Solomon Islands politician (b. 1962)
2011 – Sam Rivers, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
2011 – James Rizzi, American pop artist (b. 1950)
2012 – Gerry Anderson, British writer, creator of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet.