This Day ,That Year !!

December 10 is the 344th day (345th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 21 days remaining in the year.

Events

• 1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
• 1520 - Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1817 - Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
• 1836 - Emory College (now Emory University) is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Major General William T. Sherman's Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
• 1869 - Wyoming grants women the right to vote.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
• 1901 - The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
• 1904 - The Pi Kappa Phi fraternity is founded in Charleston, South Carolina.
• 1906 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize of any kind.
• 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs his Instrument of Abdication.
• 1941 - World War II: Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse - The Royal Navy ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers.
• 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 UN 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.
• 1953 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work.
• 1957 - Sheila Campbell is born. Known to most as the "Plant Lady", she is the mother of college aged Corin. She also has a horse named Billy, and don't forget her beloved dogs, Comet and his wife Patches (know to some as Cometski and Patchki).
• 1963 - The United States Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled by Robert McNamara.
• 1965 - The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.
• 1970 - Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, "father of the Green Revolution", is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1975 - Activist Andrei Sakharov is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Yelena Bonner.
• 1978 - Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1983 - Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted by his wife, Danuta.
• 1984 - Apartheid: Cleric and activist Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1986 - The Holocaust: Elie Wiesel is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1996 - 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.
• 2002 - The High Court of Australia hands down its judgement in the internet defamation case of Gutnick v Dow Jones.
• 2004 - A tombstone commemorating the 35th anniversary of the death of Brazilian guerilla Carlos Marighella is inaugurated in Salvador, Bahia.
• 2004 - Anil Kumble becomes India's highest wicket-taker, surpassing Kapil Dev's total of 435.

Births

• 1394 - King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)
• 1452 - Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
• 1588 - Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and phhilosopher (d. 1637)
• 1750 - Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore (d. 1799)
• 1787 - Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)
• 1805 - Josef Skoda, Bohemian physician (d. 1881)
• 1815 - Ada Lovelace, British computer programmer (d. 1852)
• 1822 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
• 1824 - George MacDonald, British writer and preacher (d. 1905)
• 1830 - Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
• 1851 - Melvil Dewey, American librarian (d. 1931)
• 1870 - Pierre Louÿs, French author
• 1870 - Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (d. 1933)
• 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
• 1882 - Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher (d. 1945)
• 1884 - Zinaida Serebryakova, Russian-born painter (d. 1967)
• 1886 - Marco Minghetti, Italian statesman (b. 1813)
• 1891 - Nelly Sachs, German-born writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
• 1903 - Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
• 1907 - Rumer Godden (Margaret Rumer Godden), British writer (d. 1998)
• 1907 - Lucien Laurent, French international footballer (d. 2005)
• 1908 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
• 1909 - Hermes Pan, American choreographer and dancer (d. 1990)
• 1911 - Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
• 1912 - Philip A. Hart, U.S. Senator (d. 1976)
• 1913 - Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
• 1914 - Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1917 - Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• 1920 - Reginald Rose, American writer (d. 2002)
• 1928 - Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1934 - Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• 1947 - Douglas Kenney, American humorist (d. 1980)
• 1947 - Rasul Guliyev, Azerbaijani politician and chairman of the Azerbaijan Democratic Party.
• 1948 - Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
• 1951 - Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer
• 1952 - Clive Anderson, British television host
• 1952 - Susan Dey, American actress
• 1957 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
• 1957 - Sheila Campbell, Plant Lady, see above
• 1960 - Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
• 1972 - Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and songwriter (Placebo)
• 1974 - Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
• 1980 - Alexa Rae, American actress
• 1980 - Sarah Chang, American violinist
• 1980 - Ledley King, English international footballer
• 1981 - Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
• 1985 - Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer

Deaths

• 1041 - Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
• 1198 - Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126)
• 1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
• 1603 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544)
• 1618 - Giulio Caccini, Italian composer
• 1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
• 1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer
• 1736 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)
• 1831 - Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
• 1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
• 1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
• 1911 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (b. 1817)
• 1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
• 1928 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, British architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868)
• 1936 - Bobby Abel, English test cricketer (b. 1857)
• 1936 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
• 1941 - Colin Kelly, American pilot
• 1946 - Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
• 1946 - Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)
• 1951 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (b. 1869)
• 1953 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)
• 1967 - Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941)
• 1968 - Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
• 1968 - Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
• 1969 - Carlos Marighella, Brazilian politician
• 1978 - Ed Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)
• 1979 - Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912)
• 1982 - Freeman F. Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1987 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901)
• 1991 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
• 1996 - Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)
• 1999 - Franjo Tuđman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
• 1999 - Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942)
• 2000 - Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919)
• 2001 - Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)

Holidays and observances

• Sweden - Nobel Prize Ceremony, an official flag day
• Thailand - Constitution Day
• United Nations - Human Rights Day

For More info on the above date, check out the BBC's take on the same date @
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/10/default.stm