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Today December 13th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1294 – Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
1545 – Council of Trent begins.
1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
1642 – Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand.
1643 – English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, with a Royal Charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.
1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.
1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing – Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese.
1937 – Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.
1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.
1941 – World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
1943 – World War II: 710 Bombers of U.S. 8th Air Force attack Kiel, Germany.
1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.
1959 – Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.
1951 – Margaret Thatcher (Roberts) marries Denis Thatcher at City Methodist in London.
1962 – NASA Relay 1 launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
1967 – Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels
1968 – Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.
1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or Moonwalk of Apollo 17. This was the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.
1974 – Malta becomes a republic.
1977 – A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.
1979 – The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.
1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
1989 – The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.
1996 – Kofi Annan is elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
2000 – The Texas 7 escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.
2000 – American Vice President Al Gore delivers his concession speech effectively ending his hopes of becoming the 43rd President of the United States.
2001 – the Indian Parliament Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.
2002 – Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
2003 – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).
2004 – Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
2006 – The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, announced as extinct.
2007 – The Mitchell Report is publicly released listing the names of 89 Major League Baseball players that have presumably used anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. Notable players to be named include Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada.
Births
1521 – Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
1533 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)
1553 – King Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
1585 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)
1640 – Robert Plot, English naturalist (d. 1696)
1662 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
1720 – Carlo Gozzi, Italian dramatist (d. 1804)
1724 – Franz Aepinus, German scientist (d. 1802)
1784 – Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
1797 – Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
1804 – Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (d. 1873)
1816 – Ernst Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor, and industrialist (d. 1892)
1818 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
1836 – Franz von Lenbach, German painter (d. 1904)
1856 – Svetozar Boroevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1920)
1860 – Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
1864 – Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
1867 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (d. 1917)
1870 – Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1940)
1871 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
1874 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian-born pianist (d. 1944)
1883 – Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist (d. 1950)
1887 – George Polya, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1985)
1887 – Alvin York, American soldier & Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
1897 – Drew Pearson, American journalist (d. 1969)
1902 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist, (d. 1979)
1903 – Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
1906 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
1906 – Sir Laurens van der Post, South African author (d. 1996)
1910 – Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971)
1911 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d. 1999)
1911 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (d. 1972)
1913 – Arnold Brown, the 11th General of The Salvation Army (d. 2002)
1913 – Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
1915 – Curd Jürgens, German-born Austrian actor (d. 1982)
1915 – Ross Macdonald, American-born author (d. 1983)
1915 – B. J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa 1966-1978 (d. 1983)
1917 – John Hart, American actor
1919 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German flying ace of World War II (d. 1942)
1920 – George Shultz, United States Secretary of State 1982-1989
1923 – Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate
1923 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (d. 2003)
1925 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian
1926 – George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
1929 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
1930 – Robert Prosky, American actor (d. 2008)
1934 – Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer
1935 – Joe Christopher, American baseball player
1935 – Ken Hall, American football player
1935 – Lindy McDaniel, American baseball player
1936 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan (Aga Khan IV), Imam (leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims
1936 – J. C. Martin, American baseball player
1937 – Ulf G. Lindén, Swedish entrepreneur (d. 2009)
1937 – Ron Taylor, Canadian baseball player
1938 – Alvin Curran, American composer
1938 – Heino, German folk singer.
1939 – Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (d. 2002)
1941 – John Davidson, American actor and game show host
1942 – Anna Eshoo, American politician
1943 – Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
1943 – Gösta Winbergh, Swedish tenor (d. 2002)
1944 – Hwang Jang Lee, Korean martial artist and film actor
1945 – Kathy Garver, American actress
1945 – Brian McGuire, Australian racing driver (d. 1977)
1947 – Darlene Cates, American actress
1947 – Dave Hamilton, American baseball player
1948 – Jeff Baxter, American guitarist (Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)
1948 – Ted Nugent, American guitarist
1948 – Brian Wilson, Scottish politician
1949 – Randy Owen, American country singer and guitarist (Alabama)
1949 – Tom Verlaine, American singer and guitarist (Television)
1949 – Paula Wilcox, English actress
1950 – Wendie Malick, American actress
1950 – Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa
1952 – Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog), American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
1953 – Ben Bernanke, American economist and current United States Chairman of the Federal Reserve
1953 – Bill Castro, Dominican baseball player
1953 – Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
1954 – Tamora Pierce, American author
1956 – Dale Berra, American baseball player
1956 – Majida El Roumi, Lebanese singer
1957 – Steve Buscemi, American actor
1957 – Morris Day, American singer (The Time)
1957 – Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
1958 – Lynn-Holly Johnson, American figure skater and actress
1959 – Jim Barrell, American professional wrestler
1959 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
1960 – Daggubati Venkatesh, Indian actor
1961 – Harry Gregson-Williams, English composer
1961 – Irene Saez, Miss Universe 1981 and Venezuelan politician
1961 – Gary Zimmerman, American football player
1962 – Roger Ilegems, Belgian track cyclist and road bicycle racer
1962 – Kendra Slewenski, English netballer
1964 – hide, Japanese musician (X Japan) (d. 1998)
1965 – Marko Mäetamm, Estonian artist
1966 – Ross Burden, New Zealand celebrity chef
1966 – Don Roff, American writer and filmmaker
1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor
1967 – Bo Pelini, American football coach
1968 – Tony Curran, Scottish actor
1969 – Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player
1969 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer (d. 2007)
1973 – Christie Clark, American actress
1974 – Sara Cox, English TV and radio presenter
1974 – Debbie Matenopoulos, American television personality and actress
1974 – Nicholas McCarthy, English guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
1975 – Bates Battaglia, American ice hockey player
1975 – Tom DeLonge, American guitarist (blink-182, Angels & Airwaves)
1975 – Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player
1976 – Josh Fogg, American baseball player
1976 – Radoslaw Sobolewski, Polish footballer
1976 – Søren Friis, Danish footballer
1977 – Sascha Kindred, British Paralympic swimmer
1977 – Peter Stringer, Irish rugby union footballer
1978 – Ryo Kawakita, Japanese guitarist (Maximum the Hormone)
1978 – BJ Penn, American mixed martial artist
1980 – Satoshi Tsumabuki, Japanese actor
1981 – Amy Lee, American singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
1982 – Anthony Callea, Australian singer/songwriter
1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player
1982 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian racing driver
1982 – Freddie Weinke, American football player
1982 – Dominik Werling, German footballer
1983 – Matt Deis, American bassist
1983 – Otylia Jedrzejczak, Polish swimmer
1985 – Laurence Leboeuf, Canadian actress
1988 – Darcy Blake, Welsh footballer
1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer/songwriter
1991 – Jay Greenberg, American composer
2005 – Prince Aymeric of Belgium
2005 – Prince Nicolas of Belgium
Deaths
1048 – Al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
1124 – Pope Callixtus II
1126 – Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
1204 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
1250 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
1404 – Albert, Count of Holland (b. 1336)
1466 – Donatello, Florentine artist and sculptor (b. 1386)
1516 – Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (b. 1462)
1521 – Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
1557 – Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician
1565 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (b. 1516)
1603 – François Viète, French mathematician (b. 1540)
1621 – Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)
1716 – Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)
1721 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway (b. 1676)
1729 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)
1754 – Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
1769 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
1783 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)
1784 – Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)
1814 – Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, Belgian-born Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)
1835 – John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)
1837 – Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)
1863 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (b. 1813)
1868 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (b. 1794)
1881 – August Senoa, Croatian writer (b. 1838)
1883 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
1895 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)
1919 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (b. 1850)
1922 – Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic politician and poet (b. 1861)
1924 – Samuel Gompers, American labor and political leader, founder of AFL (b. 1850)
1930 – Fritz Pregl, Slovenian/Austrian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)
1931 – Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)
1932 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
1934 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1854)
1935 – Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
1940 – Jacques-Arsène d Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
1940 – George Regas, Greek actor (b. 1890)
1942 – Wlodimir Ledochowski, Polish-Austrian director of the Society of Jesus (b. 1866)
1944 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French artist (b. 1866)
1944 – Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (b. 1908)
1945 – Irma Grese, Nazi war criminal (b. 1923)
1945 – Josef Kramer, commandant of Bergen Belsen concentration camp (b. 1906)
1945 – Elisabeth Volkenrath, supervisor at concentration camps (b. 1919)
1947 – Nicholas Roerich, Russian-born painter (b. 1874)
1950 – Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1902)
1954 – John Raymond Hubbell, American writer (b. 1879)
1955 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
1958 – Tim Moore, American actor (b. 1887)
1961 – Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
1962 – Harry Barris, American popular singer (b. 1905)
1969 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral (b. 1886)
1969 – Spencer Williams, Jr., American actor (b. 1893)
1973 – Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
1979 – Jon Hall, American actor (b. 1915)
1981 – Pigmeat Markham, American entertainer (b. 1904)
1983 – Alexander Schmemann, Orthodox Christian priest and theologian (b. 1921)
1983 – Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (b. 1933)
1992 – K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (b. 1899)
1992 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and heir (b. 1899)
1993 – Vanessa Duriès, French novelist (b. 1972)
1994 – Norman Beaton, Guyanese actor (b. 1934)
2001 – Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (Death) (b. 1967)
2002 – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian musician (The Lovin Spoonful) (b. 1945)
2003 – William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Senator (b. 1921)
2004 – Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball player (b. 1934)
2004 – David Wheeler, English computer scientist (b. 1927)
2005 – Timothy Jordan II, American musician (The All American Rejects, Jonezetta) (b. 1981)
2005 – Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips and convicted murderer (b. 1953)
2006 – Lamar Hunt, American sports executive (b. 1932)
2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor (b. 1936)
2007 – Mark Partridge, Rhodesian politician (b. 1922)
2008 – John Drake, New Zealand rugby union footballer (b. 1959)
Holidays and observances
Roman festivals – Tellus was worshipped in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill, and a lectisternium or table was spread for Ceres.
R.C. Saints – memorial of Saint Lucy
Saint Lucy s Day in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and some regions of Italy, mainly Sicily, Veneto and Trentino.
In the Julian calendar before the Gregorian reform, this was the shortest day and longest night, and widely celebrated as such.
Malta – Republic Day (since 1974)
Saint Lucia – National Day
Hug a Red Head Day – International Festival
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