December 21

December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 10 days remaining.

Events:

• 1872 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography
• 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.
• 1913 - First crossword puzzle published.
• 1968 - Apollo 8 launched.
• 1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes on an airplane over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Births:

• 1118 - Thomas Becket, lord chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury (+ 1170)
• 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, British politician, writer
• 1879 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader
• 1878 - Jan Lukasiewicz, philosopher, mathematician
• 1917 - Heinrich Böll, auther and recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1972 (+ 1985)
• 1935 - Phil Donahue, talk show host
• 1937 - Jane Fonda, actress
• 1940 - Frank Zappa, musician (+ 1993)
• 1942 - Reinhard Mey, singer
• 1954 - Christ Evert, tennis player

Deaths:

• 1945 - George S. Patton, American general

Holidays and Observances:

• The winter solstice, sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date.

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See Also:

December 20 - December 22 - November 21 - January 21 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December