December 13
December 13 is the 347th day of the year (348th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 18 days remaining.
Events
- 1545 - Council of Trent begins
- 1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage
- 1642 - Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand.
- 1643 - English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
- 1862 - American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.
- 1937 - Battle of Nanjing concludes with the Japanese victory and the fall of the city which became the site of the Nanjing Massacre
- 1938 - 100 deportees from Sachsenhausen build the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg
- 1939 - The Battle of the River Plate, the first major naval battle of World War II, begins.
- 1949 - The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem
- 1959 - Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus
- 1972 - A chartered Spanish airliner crashes on takeoff from the Canary Islands, killing 155
- 1974 - Malta becomes a republic
- 1977 - A United States government DC-3 crashes after takeoff at Evansville, Indiana, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team
- 1978 - The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation
- 1981 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland
- 1996 - Kofi Annan elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- 2000 - The Texas 7 escape from a Texas prison and go on a crime spree.
- 2001 - Parliament of India attacked by armed militants. Attempt foiled.
- 2002 - The European Union announces the addition of ten new members, effective May 1, 2004.
- 2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.
- 2003 - The most-attended basketball game in history, between Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky at Ford Field.
- 2004 - A moderate 5.4 Richter Scale earthquake is felt all over Portugal.
- 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.
- 2004 - Scott Peterson is sentenced to death for murder of his wife, Laci Peterson, and unborn son, Connor.
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, British naturalist (d. 1696)
- 1662 - Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
- 1678 - Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
- 1797 - Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
- 1804 - Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (d. 1873)
- 1813 - David Spangler Kaufman, American politician (d. 1851)
- 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)
- 1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- 1864 - Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
- 1874 - Josef Lhévinne, Russian-born pianist (d. 1944)
- 1887 - George Polya, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1985)
- 1887 - Alvin York, American soldier of World War I (d. 1964)
- 1897 - Drew Pearson, American journalist (d. 1969)
- 1903 - Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
- 1906 - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
- 1906 - Laurens van der Post, South African author (d. 1996)
- 1910 - Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971)
- 1911 - Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (d. 1972)
- 1913 - Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
- 1915 - Curd Jürgens, German actor (d. 1982)
- 1915 - Ross Macdonald, American-born author (d. 1983)
- 1923 - Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1923 - Larry Doby, baseball player (d. 2003)
- 1925 - Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian
- 1926 - George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
- 1927 - Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
- 1934 - Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer
- 1936 - His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, Shia Imam
- 1943 - Ferguson Jenkins, baseball player
- 1948 - Ted Nugent, American musician
- 1948 - Brian Wilson, British politician
- 1950 - Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa
- 1953 - Bob Gainey, Canadian hockey player
- 1957 - Steve Buscemi, American actor
- 1957 - Morris Day, American musician (The Time (band))
- 1957 - Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
- 1958 - Lynn-Holly Johnson American figure skater and actress
- 1961 - Harry Gregson-Williams, British-born composer
- 1964 - Matsumoto Hideto, Japanese musician
- 1965 - David Windsor, Canadian actor
- 1967 - Jamie Foxx, American actor
- 1974 - Nicholas McCarthy, German guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
- 1975 - Tom Delonge, American guitarist (blink-182)
- 1981 - Amy Lee, American singer (Evanescence)
- 1983 - Otylia Jędrzejczak, Polish swimmer
Deaths
- 1048 - Al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
- 1124 - Pope Callixtus II
- 1204 - Maimonides, Spanish Jewish philosopher (b. 1135)
- 1250 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
- 1466 - Donatello, Italian artist (b. 1386)
- 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)
- 1784 - Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)
- 1863 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (b. 1813)
- 1881 - August Senoa, Croatian writer (b. 1838)
- 1883 - Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
- 1930 - Fritz Pregl, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
- 1935 - Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
- 1944 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian artist (b. 1866)
- 1955 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and Nobel prize winner (b. 1874)
- 1961 - Grandma Moses, American artist (b. 1860)
- 2001 - Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (b. 1967)
- 2002 - Zal Yanofsky, American musican (The Lovin' Spoonful)
- 2003 - William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Senator from Delaware (b. 1921)
- 2004 - David Wheeler, computer scientist (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Andre Rodgers, Major League Baseball player (b. 1934)
- 2004 - Alex Soria, guitarist (the Nils) (b. 1965)
Holidays and observances
- Republic Day in Malta (1974)
- Catholicism - Saint Lucy's day.
- In the Irish calendar the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following the Feast of Saint Lucy were observed as Quarter tense.
- St. Lucia Day in Sweden
External links
December 12 - December 14 - November 13 - January 13 -- listing of all days