today.nukz.net: Almanac December 5

Werner Karl Heisenberg (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics". Heisenberg, along with Max Born and Pascual Jordan, set forth the matrix formulation of quantum mechanics in 1925. In 1927 he published his uncertainty principle, upon which he built his philosophy and for which he is best known. He also made important contributions to the theories of the hydrodynamics of turbulent flows, the atomic nucleus, ferromagnetism, cosmic rays, and subatomic particles, and he was instrumental in planning the first West German nuclear reactor at Karlsruhe, together with a research reactor in Munich, in 1957. Considerable controversy surrounds his work on atomic research during World War II.

Events

63 BC – Cicero gave the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations.
306 – Martyrdom of Saint Barbara.
663 – Fourth Council of Toledo takes place.
771 – Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman.
1082 – Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated.
1408 – Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow.
1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany and leads to one of the most oppressive witch hunts in European history.
1492 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1496 – King Manuel I of Portugal issues a decree of expulsion of "heretics" from the country.
1590 – Niccolò Sfondrati becomes Pope Gregory XIV.
1757 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen – Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to a decisive victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine.
1766 – In London, James Christie holds his first sale.
1775 – At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 – At The College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa is founded and becomes the first American college fraternity.
1815 – Foundation of Maceió in Brazil.
1831 – Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
1847 – Jefferson Davis is elected to the US senate, his first political post.
1848 – California Gold Rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
1865 – Chincha Islands War: Peru allies with Chile against Spain.
1876 – Brooklyn Theater Fire kills at least 278 people in Brooklyn, NY.
1914 – The Italian Parliament proclaims the neutrality of the country.
1920 – Dimitrios Rallis forms a government in Greece.
1932 – German-born Swiss physicist Albert Einstein is granted an American visa.
1933 – Prohibition in the United States ends: Utah becomes the 36th U.S. state to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, thus establishing the required 75% of states needed to enact the amendment (this overturned the 18th Amendment which had made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcohol illegal in the United States).
1934 – Abyssinia Crisis: Italian troops attack Wal Wal in Abyssinia, taking four days to capture the city.
1936 – The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.
1941 – World War II: In the Battle of Moscow Georgy Zhukov launches a massive Soviet counter-attack against the German army, with the biggest offensive launched against Army Group Centre.
1941 – World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.
1943 – World War II: U.S. Army Air Force begins attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow.
1945 – Flight 19 is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
1952 – Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
1955 – The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge and form the AFL-CIO.
1955 – E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1957 – Sukarno expels all Dutch people from Indonesia.
1958 – Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the UK by Queen Elizabeth II when she speaks to the Lord Provost in a call from Bristol to Edinburgh.
1958 – The Preston bypass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
1964 – Vietnam War: For his heroism in battle earlier in the year, Captain Roger Donlon is awarded the first Medal of Honor of the war.
1969 – The last of the ARPANET Nodes closed.
1974 – In American football, the Birmingham Americans would win what would eventually be the only World Bowl in World Football League history.
1976 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States.
1977 – Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.
1978 – The Soviet Union signs a "friendship treaty" with the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1979 – Sonia Johnson is formally excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her outspoken criticism of the church concerning the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
1983 – Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
1983 – ICIMOD is established and inaugurated with its headquarters in Kathmandu, Nepal, and legitimised through an Act of Parliament in Nepal in the same year.
1993 – The mayor of Wien (Vienna), Helmut Zilk, is wounded by a letter bomb.
1995 – The Sri Lankan government announces the conquest of Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
2005 – The Lake Tanganyika earthquake causes significant damage, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2005 – The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there.
2006 – Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.
2007 – Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska mall, killing eight people before taking his own life.

Births

1377 – Jianwen, Emperor of China (d. 1402)
1443 – Pope Julius II (d. 1513)
1495 – Nicolas Cleynaerts, Flemish grammarian (d. 1542)
1537 – Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1597)
1539 – Fausto Paolo Sozzini, Italian theologian (d. 1604)
1547 – Ubbo Emmius, Dutch historian and geographer (d. 1625)
1595 – Henry Lawes, English composer (d. 1662)
1661 – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, English statesman (d. 1724)
1666 – Francesco Scarlatti, Italian composer and musician (d. c. 1741)
1687 – Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1762)
1697 – Giuseppe de Majo, Italian composer and organist (d. 1771)
1782 – Martin Van Buren, President of the United States (d. 1862)
1803 – Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, Russian poet (d. 1873)
1820 – Afanasy Fet, Russian poet (d. 1892)
1822 – Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, American college president (d. 1907)
1829 – Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, Canadian politician (d. 1908)
1830 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (d. 1894)
1839 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (d. 1876)
1841 – Marcus Daly, American mining tycoon (d. 1900)
1855 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American ornithologist (d. 1942)
1859 – John Jellicoe, English admiral (d. 1935)
1863 – Paul Painlevé, Prime Minister of France (d. 1933)
1867 – Józef Pilsudski, Polish revolutionary and statesman (d. 1935)
1867 – Antti Aarne, Finnish folklorist (d. 1925)
1868 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist (d. 1951)
1869 – Ellis Parker Butler, American author (d. 1937)
1870 – Vítezslav Novák, Czech composer (d. 1949)
1871 – Bill Pickett, American rodeo performer (d. 1932)
1872 – Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American chess player (d. 1906)
1875 – Sir Arthur Currie, Canadian soldier (d. 1933)
1879 – Clyde Cessna, American airplane manufacturer (d. 1954)
1881 – René Cresté, French actor (d. 1922)
1886 – Pieter Oud, Dutch politician (d. 1968)
1886 – Rose Wilder Lane, American writer and reporter (d. 1968)
1890 – David Bomberg, English painter (d. 1957)
1890 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-born film director (d. 1976)
1892 – Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (d. 1973)
1894 – Charles Robberts Swart, South African politician (d. 1982)
1895 – Elbert Frank Cox, American mathematician (d. 1969)
1896 – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1984)
1897 – Nunnally Johnson, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1977)
1897 – Gershom Scholem, German-born Israeli philosopher and historian (d. 1982)
1898 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian poet(d. 1982)
1898 – Grace Moore, American soprano (d. 1947)
1899 – Aleck "Rice" Miller, American musician (d. 1965)
1901 – Walt Disney, American animated film producer (d. 1966)
1901 – Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (d. 1980)
1901 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1976)
1902 – Emeric Pressburger, English screenwriter, director and producer (d. 1988)
1902 – Strom Thurmond, American politician (d. 2003)
1903 – Johannes Heesters, Dutch singer and actor (d. 2011)
1903 – Cecil Frank Powell, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1969)
1905 – Gus Mancuso, American baseball player (d. 1984)
1906 – Otto Preminger, Austrian-born film director, producer, and actor (d. 1986)
1907 – Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian physicist (d. 1993)
1907 – Lin Biao, Chinese Communist military leader (d. 1971)
1909 – Musashiyama Takeshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1969)
1910 – Abraham Polonsky, American screenwriter (d. 1999)
1911 – Wladyslaw Szpilman, Polish pianist (d. 2000)
1914 – Hans Hellmut Kirst, German author (d. 1989)
1916 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish virologist and immunologist
1917 – Ken Downing, English racing driver (d. 2004)
1917 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (d. 2011)
1921 – Alvy Moore, American actor (d. 1997)
1925 – Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (d. 1980)
1927 – Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
1931 – Ladislav Novák, Czech footballer (d. 2011)
1932 – Sheldon Lee Glashow, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1932 – Little Richard, American singer and pianist
1932 – Jim Hurtubise, American racecar driver (d. 1989)
1934 – Joan Didion, American writer
1934 – Nikos Kourkoulos, Greek actor, theater director (d. 2007)
1935 – Calvin Trillin, American writer
1935 – Yury Vlasov, Soviet weightlifter
1936 – James Lee Burke, American writer
1938 – J. J. Cale, American songwriter
1938 – J.D. McDuffie, American racecar driver (d. 1991)
1939 – Minita Chico-Nazario, Filipino jurist
1940 – Boris Ignatyev, Russian footballer and manager
1940 – Peter Pohl, Swedish writer
1940 – Adrian Street, Welsh wrestler
1940 – Frank Wilson, American songwriter and producer (d. 2012)
1943 – Eva Joly, Norwegian-French magistrate
1944 – Jeroen Krabbé, Dutch actor
1944 – Loukas Sideras, Greek drummer (Aphrodite's Child)
1945 – Serge Chapleau, Canadian caricaturist
1945 – Moshe Katsav, President of Israel
1946 – José Carreras, Spanish tenor
1946 – Sarel van der Merwe, South African rally driver
1947 – Bruce Golding, Jamaican politician
1947 – Tony Gregory, Irish politician
1947 – Jim Messina, American musician (Buffalo Springfield, Loggins and Messina)
1947 – Jim Plunkett, American football player
1949 – John Altman, British film composer
1949 – Ray Comfort, New Zealand evangelist
1949 – Abdullah Senussi, Sudanese-Libyan military officer
1950 – Camarón de la Isla, Spanish singer (d. 1992)
1950 – Osvaldo Golijov, Argentine-born composer
1950 – James Knaggs, American-born Salvationist
1951 – Morgan Brittany, American actress
1951 – Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven, Belgian artist
1952 – Andy Kim, Canadian singer, songwriter
1953 – Larry Zbyszko, American wrestler
1953 – Gwen Lister, Namibian journalist
1954 – Hanif Kureishi, English author and playwright
1954 – Gary Roenicke, American baseball player
1956 – Klaus Allofs, German footballer
1956 – Brian Backer, American actor
1956 – Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist
1957 – Raquel Argandoña, Chilean TV presenter
1957 – Art Monk, American football player
1958 – Dean Erickson, American actor
1958 – Dynamite Kid, English wrestler
1959 – Lee Chapman, English footballer
1960 – Jack Russell, American singer (Great White)
1960 – Frans Adelaar, Dutch football player and manager
1961 – Ralf Dujmovits, German mountaineer
1961 – Sophia Vossou, Greek singer
1962 – José Cura, Argentine tenor
1962 – Pablo Morales, American swimmer
1962 – Nivek Ogre, Canadian vocalist, (Skinny Puppy)
1962 – Fred Rutten, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Doctor Dre, American radio personality
1963 – Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards, English ski jumper
1963 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress (d. 2002)
1963 – Ty England, American country singer and guitarist
1965 – Johnny Rzeznik, American musician and songwriter (Goo Goo Dolls)
1965 – Wayne Smith, Jamaican musician
1966 – Patricia Kaas, French singer
1966 – Lee Seung-Chul, South Korean singer
1967 – Gary Allan, American musician
1967 – Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin, Bulgarian prince
1968 – Margaret Cho, American comedian and actress
1968 – Lisa Marie, American model and actress
1968 – Lydia Millet, American writer
1969 – Morgan J. Freeman, American director
1969 – Lewis Gordon Pugh, English swimmer, explorer and motivational speaker
1969 – Alex Kapp Horner, American actress
1969 – Eric Etebari, American actor, model and musician.
1969 – Ramón Ramírez, Mexican footballer
1970 – Kevin Haller, Canadian ice hockey player
1971 – Kali Rocha, American actress
1971 – Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, German politician
1971 – Kavus Torabi, Iranian-born English guitarist
1972 – Cliff Floyd, American baseball player
1972 – Mike Mahoney, American baseball player
1972 – Angela Shelton, American actress and writer
1973 – Arik Benado, Israeli footballer
1973 – Shalom Harlow, Canadian model and actress
1973 – Mikelangelo Loconte, Italian singer
1973 – Luboš Motl, Czech physicist
1973 – Danielle Winits, Brazilian actress
1974 – Charlie Batch, American football player
1975 – Ronnie O'Sullivan, English snooker player
1975 – Paula Patton, American actress
1976 – Amy Acker, American actress
1976 – Xavier Garbajosa, French rugby player
1976 – Rachel Komisarz, American swimmer
1977 – Peter van der Vlag, Dutch footballer
1978 – Pachrapa Chaichua, Thai actress
1978 – Olli Jokinen, Finnish ice hockey player
1978 – Marcelo Zalayeta, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Matteo Ferrari, Italian footballer
1979 – Niklas Hagman, Finnish ice hockey player
1979 – Evonne Hsu, Taiwanese singer
1979 – Gareth McAuley, Irish footballer
1979 – Nick Stahl, American actor
1980 – Tamara Feldman, American actress
1980 – Shizuka Ito, Japanese voice actress
1980 – Ibrahim Maalouf, Lebanese-French trumpeter
1981 – Leila Tong, Hong Kong actress
1982 – Eddy Curry, American basketball player
1982 – Trai Essex, American football player
1982 – Keri Hilson, American singer
1983 – Cooper Cronk, Australian rugby player
1983 – Tiffany Weimer, American soccer player
1983 – JP White, Swedish bassist (Vains Of Jenna)
1984 – Chris Solinsky, American runner
1985 – Frankie Muniz, American actor
1985 – Josh Smith, American basketball player
1985 – Nico Verdonck, Belgian racing driver
1987 – Tommy Fraser, English footballer
1988 – Miralem Sulejmani, Serbian footballer
1989 – Gregory Tyree Boyce, American actor
1989 – Yuri, South Korean singer (Girls' Generation)
1991 – Jacopo Sala, Italian footballer
1991 – Carolin Schäfer, German athlete

Deaths

63 BC – Publius Cornelius Lentulus (Sura), Roman statesman
1082 – Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona
1355 – John III, Duke of Brabant (b. 1300)
1560 – King Francis II of France (b. 1544)
1570 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (b. 1494)
1624 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (b. 1560)
1654 – Jean François Sarrazin, French writer
1663 – Severo Bonini, Italian composer (b. 1582)
1749 – Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, French explorer and trader (b. 1685)
1758 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (b. 1688)
1770 – James Stirling, Scottish mathematician (b. 1692)
1784 – Phillis Wheatley, American poet (b. 1753)
1791 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (b. 1756)
1819 – Count Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg, German poet (b. 1750)
1870 – Alexandre Dumas, père, French writer (b. 1802)
1887 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b. 1804)
1891 – Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (b. 1825)
1895 – Chief Gall, Sioux chief (b. 1840)
1918 – Schalk Willem Burger, South African politician (b. 1852)
1925 – Wladyslaw Reymont, Polish writer and Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
1926 – Claude Monet, French impressionist painter (b. 1840)
1931 – Vachel Lindsay, American poet (b. 1879)
1940 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
1942 – Jock Delves Broughton, British noble (b. 1883)
1946 – Louis Dewis, Belgian post-impressionist painter (b. 1872)
1950 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian spiritual figure (b. 1872)
1951 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (b. 1889)
1951 – Abanindranath Tagore, Indian writer (b. 1871)
1953 – Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1911)
1955 – Glenn Luther Martin, American aviation executive (b. 1886)
1961 – Emil Fuchs, German-born American attorney and baseball team owner (b. 1878)
1963 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
1963 – Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Pakistani statesman (b. 1892)
1965 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
1966 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1909)
1968 – Fred Clark, American actor (b. 1914)
1969 – Claudius Dornier, German aircraft designer (b. 1884)
1969 – Princess Alice of Battenberg (b. 1885)
1973 – Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer and inventor (b. 1892)
1977 – Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Soviet military commander (b. 1895)
1979 – Jesse Pearson, American actor (b. 1930)
1983 – Robert Aldrich, American film director (b. 1918)
1986 – Sir Edward Youde, Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1924)
1989 – Sir John Pritchard, English conductor (b. 1921)
1991 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (b. 1921)
1991 – Richard Speck, American mass murderer (b. 1941)
1993 – Doug Hopkins, American guitarist and songwriter (Gin Blossoms) (b. 1961)
1994 – Harry Horner, American art director (b. 1910)
1995 – Charles Evans, British mountaineer and surgeon (b. 1918)
1995 – Gwen Harwood, Australian poet (b. 1920)
1995 – Lisa McPherson, American Scientology victim (b. 1959)
1998 – Al Gore, Sr., American politician (b. 1907)
2001 – Franco Rasetti, Italian physicist (b. 1901)
2002 – Roone Arledge, American sports broadcaster (b. 1931)
2002 – Ne Win, Burmese leader (b. 1911)
2005 – Ed Masry, American lawyer (b. 1932)
2005 – Kevin McQuay, Australian businessman (b. 1949)
2005 – Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (b. 1905)
2006 – David Bronstein, Ukrainian-born chess grandmaster (b. 1924)
2007 – Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer (b. 1928)
2007 – Andrew Imbrie, American composer (b. 1921)
2007 – George Paraskevaides, Greek-Cypriot businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
2008 – Patriarch Alexy II of Russia, Russian religious figure (b. 1929)
2008 – Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, Romanian politician (b. 1928)
2008 – Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress (b. 1924)
2008 – Anca Parghel, Romanian jazz singer and composer (b. 1957)
2009 – Princess Vimolchatra of Thailand (b. 1921)
2010 – Don Meredith, American football player and broadcaster (b. 1938)
2010 – Alan Armer, American television producer and director (b. 1922)
2010 – John Leslie, American pornographic actor and filmmaker (b. 1945)
2011 – Peter Gethin, British racing driver (b. 1940)
2011 – Gennady Logofet, Russian footballer (b. 1942)