December 15
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Art and culture
- 1939 - Gone with the Wind premieres in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1965 - The film The Sound of Music is released.
- 1967 - The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.
- 1970 - Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.
- 1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
- 1993 - History of Northern Ireland: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
- 1994 - The web browser Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released.
- 1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
- 1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice hands down the "Bosman ruling", giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
- 1997 - A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
- 2005 - The 43rd known Mersenne prime is discovered by Dr. Curtis Cooper & Dr. Steven Boone of USA, participants of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search distributed computing project. The prime number is 2nd largest known prime and has more than nine million digits.
- 2005 - Latvia edits its constitution to ban equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
- 2005 - Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.
- 2005 - Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
- 2006 - First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.
- 2007 - First annual Wikipedia world cup tournement is scheduled to be held.
Births
- 37 - Nero, Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (d. 68)
- 1832 - Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect (Eiffel tower) (d. 1923)
- 1852 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1908)
- 1859 - L. L. Zamenhof, Polish initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
- 1860 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician and Nobel laureate (d. 1904)
- 1860 - Abner Powell, American baseball player (d. 1953)
- 1861 - Charles Duryea, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1878 - Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Maxwell Anderson, American writer (d. 1959)
- 1892 - J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
- 1899 - Harold Abrahams, British sprinter and Olympic gold medalist (d. 1978)
- 1907 - Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect
- 1910 - John H. Hammond, American musician (d. 1987)
- 1911 - Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
- 1912 - Ray Eames, American designer (d. 1988)
- 1913 - Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (d. 1980)
- 1913 - Roger Gaudry, French Canadian chemist, businessman and corporate director (d. 2001)
- 1916 - Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)
- 1916 - Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
- 1917 - Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, linguist and writer of Pakistan (d. 2005)
- 1918 - Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1919 - Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock Festival site (d. 1973)
- 1920 - Kurt Schaffenberger, American comics artist (d. 2002)
- 1922 - Alan Freed, American disc jockey (d. 1965)
- 1923 - Freeman Dyson, English-born American physicist
- 1923 - Valentin Varennikov, Russian general and statesman
- 1925 - Sam Pollock, National Hockey League general manager
- 1928 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
- 1928 - Jerry Wallace, American country and popular music singer
- 1933 - Tim Conway, American actor and comedian
- 1933 - Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana a.k.a Bapu, Indian Cartoonist, designer and film director
- 1938 - Billy Shaw, American football player
- 1939 - Cindy Birdsong, American singer (The Supremes)
- 1940 - Nick Buoniconti, American football player
- 1942 - Dave Clark, British musician (The Dave Clark Five)
- 1943 - Kathleen Blanco, American Democratic politician
- 1943 - Lucien den Arend, Dutch artist
- 1944 - Chico Mendes, Brazilian campaigner (d. 1988)
- 1945 - Thaao Penghlis, Australian actor
- 1946 - Art Howe, American baseball player
- 1949 - Don Johnson, American actor
- 1952 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)
- 1952 - Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer
- 1952 - Julie Taymor, American director
- 1953 - J. M. DeMatteis, American comic book writer
- 1955 - Paul Simonon, English bassist (The Clash)
- 1957 - Mario Marois, Quebec ice hockey player
- 1957 - Yuuichi Nagashima, Japanese actor
- 1961 - Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist
- 1963 - Andrew Luster, Max Factor heir
- 1963 - Helen Slater, American actress
- 1967 - Mo Vaughn, American baseball player
- 1968 - Javid Hussain, Indian film producer
- 1968 - Garrett Wang, American actor
- 1968 - Osama Ali Maher, Swedish politician
- 1969 - Chantal Petitclerc, Quebec wheelchair athlete
- 1970 - Frankie Dettori, Italian champion jockey
- 1970 - Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
- 1972 - Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
- 1972 - Rodney Harrison, American football player
- 1973 - Surya Bonaly, French-born American figure skater
- 1973 - Ryu Seung-wan, South Korean actor and director
- 1976 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
- 1976 - Aaron Miles, American baseball player
- 1976 - Elix Skipper, American professional wrestler
- 1978 - Mark Jansen, Dutch guitarist (Epica)
- 1978 - Jerome McDougle, American football player
- 1979 - Adam Brody, American actor
- 1979 - Eric Young, Canadian wrestler
- 1980 - Sergio Pizzorno, English guitarist (Kasabian)
- 1981 - Najoua Belyzel, French singer
- 1981 - Brendan Fletcher, Canadian actor
- 1981 - Andy González, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1981 - Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)
- 1981 - Creighton Lovelace, American Baptist minister
- 1982 - Charlie Cox, English actor
- 1982 - Borja García, Spanish racing driver
- 1982 - George O. Gore II, American actor
- 1983 - René Goguen, Canadian wrestler
- 1983 - Ronnie Radke, American singer (Escape the Fate)
- 1986 - Snejana Onopka, Ukrainian supermodel
- 1991 - Eunice Cho, American actress
Deaths
- 1025 - Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
- 1072 - Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan in Persia (b. 1029)
- 1230 - King Otakar I of Bohemia
- 1263 - King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
- 1598 - Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
- 1621 - Charles de Luynes, Constable of France (b. 1578)
- 1673 - Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
- 1675 - Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
- 1683 - Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
- 1688 - Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)
- 1715 - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
- 1753 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
- 1792 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
- 1855 - Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician (b. 1803)
- 1890 - Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader (b. circa 1831)
- 1943 - Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
- 1944 - Glenn Miller, American musician (later declared dead on this date, true date unknown) (b. 1904)
- 1947 - Arthur Machen, British author (b. 1863)
- 1950 - Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian political leader, Iron Man of India (b. 1875)
- 1958 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
- 1962 - Charles Laughton, English actor (b. 1899)
- 1966 - Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
- 1968 - Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)
- 1968 - Antonio Barrette, politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1899)
- 1971 - Paul Pierre Lévy, French mathematician (b. 1886)
- 1974 - Anatole Litvak, Ukrainien-born film screenwriter and producer (b. 1902)
- 1977 - Wilfred Kitching, the 7th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1893)
- 1984 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
- 1984 - Lennard Pearce, British actor (b. 1915)
- 1989 - Edward Underdown, stage and film veteran (b. 1908)
- 1989 - Arnold Moss, American character actor (b. 1910)
- 1991 - Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, Russian-born Soviet sniper (b. 1915)
- 2001 - Russ Haas, American professional wrestler (b. 1974)
- 2001 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
- 2003 - George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
- 2003 - Keith Magnuson, National Hockey League defenceman (b. 1947)
- 2004 - Pauline Gore, mother of American Vice President Al Gore (b. 1912)
- 2005 - William Proxmire, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)
- 2005 - Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Stan Leonard, Canadian professional golfer (b. 1915)