December 16 - Definition and Overview

December 16 is the 350th day of the year (351st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 15 days remaining.

Events

• 1392 - Emperor Go-Kameyama of Japan abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu, ending the nanboku-cho period of competing imperial courts.
• 1653 - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• 1689 - The English Parliament adopts the Bill of Rights.
• 1773 - The Boston Tea Party
• 1811 - The first of a series of severe earthquakes occurs, in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri in the United States.
• 1838 - Boers defeat Zulu troops at Battle of Blood River, led by Dambuza and Nhlela, celebrated in South Africa as the day of the vow.
• 1850 - The first four ships arrive at Lyttelton to settle Christchurch, New Zealand.
• 1864 - Union troops led by general George Thomas defeat Confederate troops in the Battle of Nashville.
• 1893 - World premiere of Antonin Dvorak's "New World Symphony".
• 1910 - Henri Coanda makes first short flight in aircraft with jet engine
• 1922 - Poland's President Gabriel Narutowicz assassinated.
• 1944 - The Battle of the Bulge begins. A V-2 rocket hits the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people.
• 1946 - Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1960 - A United Airlines DC-8 and a TWA Super-Constellation collide over New York City killing 134
• 1963 - Park Chung-Hee is sworn in as South Korea's fifth president.
• 1966 - Mao's Little Red Book is published in Beijing
• 1971 - Victory Day of Bangladesh (Pakistan Army surrenders, ending the Liberation War of Bangladesh and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 simultaneously).
• 1973 - O.J. Simpson becomes the first player in NFL history to rush for 2000 yards in one season.
• 1985 - In New York City, mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead when exiting from Sparks Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.
• 1989 - The Romanian Revolution began in the city of Timişoara as a protest against an attempt by the government to evict a dissident Methodist priest, László Tőkés.
• 1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected president of Haiti
• 1991 - United Nations reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25, with 13 abstentions
• 1998 - Operation Desert Fox: American and British troops begin to bomb Iraqi targets after Iraq obstructs UN weapons inspectors.
• 1999 - Mud streams kill thousands in Venezuela.
• 2000 - NASA announces that there is an ocean beneath Jupiter moon Ganymede's icy surface.
• 2003 - Deborah Jin induces the formation of a fermionic condensate among fermionic atoms

Births

• 1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (d. 1536)
• 1742 - Gebhard Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, general field marshal (d. 1819)
• 1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (d. 1827)
• 1775 - Jane Austen, writer (d. 1817)
• 1776 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter, physicist (d. 1810)
• 1790 - King Leopold I of Belgium (d. 1865)
• 1861 - Antonio de La Gandara, painter (d. 1917)
• 1863 - George Santayana, philosopher, poet (d. 1952)
• 1865 - Olavo Bilac, poet (d. 1918)
• 1869 - Clarence Hawkes, physically handicapped lecturer (d. 1954)
• 1882 - Zoltán Kodály, composer (d. 1967)
• 1882 - Walther Meissner, physicist
• 1888 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
• 1899 - Noel Coward, playwright (d. 1973)
• 1901 - Margaret Mead, anthropologist (d. 1978)
• 1905 - Piet Hein, mathematician, inventor
• 1917 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer
• 1920 - Dorothy Abbott, actress (d. 1968)
• 1926 - James McCracken, American tenor (d. 1988)
• 1927 - Randall Garrett, science fiction writer
• 1928 - Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer (d. 1982)
• 1934 - Elgin Baylor, basketball great
• 1938 - Frank DeFord, sports journalist
• 1938 - Liv Ullmann, actress
• 1941 - Lesley Stahl, journalist
• 1943 - Steven Bochco, producer, writer
• 1946 - Benny Andersson, Swedish singer, songwriter, ABBA member
• 1946 - Trevor Pinnock, English conductor, harpsichordist
• 1947 - Vincent Matthews, American athlete
• 1951 - Robben Ford, blues guitarist
• 1952 - Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
• 1961 - Bill Hicks, comedian (d. 1994)
• 1963 - Benjamin Bratt, actor (Law & Order)
• 1964 - Heike Drechsler, track and field athlete
• 1967 - Donovan Bailey, athlete

Deaths

• 714 - Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia (b. 635 or 640)
• 999 - Saint Adelaide of Italy (b. 931)
• 1515 - Afonso de Albuquerque Portuguese naval general (at sea) (b. 1453)
• 1783 - Johann A. Hasse, composer
• 1783 - William James (naval commander) (b. c. 1720)
• 1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, folklorist (b. 1786)
• 1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
• 1921 - Camille Saint-Saëns, composer (b. 1835)
• 1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz, first President of Poland (b. 1865)
• 1928 - Elinor Wylie, writer
• 1942 - Heinrich Himmler orders that the Roma (gypsy) candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
• 1945 - Fumimaro Konoye, prince and prime minister of Japan (b. 1891)
• 1949 - Sidney Olcott, pioneer motion picture director (b. 1873)
• 1956 - Nina Hamnett, artist (b. 1890)
• 1965 - W. Somerset Maugham, writer (b. 1874)
• 1977 - Risto Jarva, Finnish filmmaker (b. 1934)
• 1980 - Colonel Harland Sanders, fast food entrepreneur (Kentucky Fried Chicken) (b. 1890)
• 1980 - Hellmuth Walter, engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
• 1982 - Colin Chapman, engineer, founder of Lotus Cars (b. 1928)
• 1985 - Paul Castellano, mafia boss (b. 1915)
• 1989 - Lee Van Cleef, actor (b. 1925)
• 1993 - Tanaka Kakuei, Japanese political leader (b. 1918)
• 1996 - Quentin Bell, biographer, author
• 2003 - Robert Stanfield, Canadian politician (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Gary Stewart, Country music singer (suicide)
• 2004 - Ted Abernathy, Major League Baseball player (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Bahrain - National Day
• Bangladesh - Victory Day
• Kazakhstan - Independence Day
• Nepal - Constitution Day
• South Africa - Day of reconciliation

December 15 - December 17 - November 16 - January 16 -- listing of all days