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Encyclopedia: December 20

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is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.

Events

*1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
*1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
*1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
*1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
*1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police, founded.
*1942 - Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.
*1951 - Nuclear power first harvested when EBR-1 powers four light bulbs.
*1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
*1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
*1973 - The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
*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.
*1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
*1989 - United States invasion of Panama: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
*1991 - Paul Keating becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
*1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
*1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 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 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
*1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
*2001 - Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002): President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
*2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
*2005 - 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.

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)
*1786 - Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
*1792 - Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
*1833 - Samuel 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)
*1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
*1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
*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 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
*1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
*1902 - Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
* 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
*1904 - Spud Davis, baseball player (d. 1984)
*1917 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
*1922 - George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
*1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
* 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
*1927 - Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea
*1933 - Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
* 1933 - Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist
*1938 - John Harbison, American composer
*1944 - Bobby Colomby, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
*1945 - Peter George Criscoula, American drummer and singer (KISS)
*1946 - Uri Geller, Israeli psychic
* 1946 - John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
* 1946 - Dick Wolf, American television series creator
*1947 - Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer
*1949 - Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
*1951 - Gilbert Montagné, French musician
*1951 - Peter May - Writer, Scottish novelist and scriptwriter
*1952 - Jenny Agutter, English actress
*1954 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
*1956 - Junji Hirata, Japanese professional wrestler
*1957 - Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter
* 1957 - Mike Watt, American bassist
* 1957 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
* 1957 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
*1960 - Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
*1963 - Infanta Elena of Spain, Duchess of Lugo
*1965 - Rich Gannon, American football player
*1966 - Chris Robinson, American singer (Black Crowes)
*1968 - Karl Wendlinger, Austrian racing driver
*1970 - Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
*1974 - Die, japanese musician (Dir en grey)
*1975 - Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer
*1976 - Jang Hyuk, Korean actor
* 1976 - Aubrey Huff, baseball player
* 1976 - Adam Powell, Neopets creator
*1977 - Jon Armstrong, American magician
*1978 - Njitap Geremi, Cameroon footballer
*1979 - Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist
*1980 - Ashley Cole, English footballer
*1981 - Roy Williams, American football player
*1982 - David Wright, baseball player
*1983 - Lucy Pinder, British model
*1990 - JoJo, American singer

Deaths

* 217 - Pope Zephyrinus
* 860 - King Ethelbald of Wessex
* 910 - Alfonso III of Leon
*1022 - Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
*1355 - Stefan Dušan, Serb king and tsar (b. circa 1308)
*1494 - Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
*1524 - Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician
*1539 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer
*1590 - Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
*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)
*1768 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
*1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
*1917 - Lucien Petit-Breton, Argentine=French cyclist (b. 1882)
*1921 - Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)
*1929 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)
*1935 - Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (b. 1882)
*1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
*1941 - Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
*1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)
*1956 - Ramon Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist and Public Health minister (b. 1906)
*1961 - Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
* 1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
*1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
*1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1903)
* 1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
*1974 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
*1976 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
*1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist (b. 1887)
*1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)
*1986 - Joe DeSa, baseball player (b. 1959)
*1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
*1991 - Simone Beck, French chef (b. 1904)
*1994 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
*1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
*1997 - Denise Levertov, English-born poet (b. 1923)
* 1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
*1998 - Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
* 1998 - Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
*1999 - Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
*2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Indian statesman, politician, and philanthropist (b. 1920)
*2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
* 2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal (b. 1906)

Holidays and observances

* R.C. Saints - Saint Dominic of Silos, O Clavis
* Also see December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
* The first All Faiths Day was celebrated in 2003 in Canandaigua, New York.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links