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 , the Army of Northern Virginia under Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Army of the Potomac under 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 in Copenhagen : Cyprus , the Czech Republic , Estonia , Hungary , Latvia , Lithuania , Malta , Poland , Slovakia and Slovenia . The countries' membership became effective May 1 , 2004 .
2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit .
2004 - A moderate 5,4 Richter Scale earthquake is felt all over Portugal , with its epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean , southwest of São Vicente's Cape (Algarve ), with no losses reported.
2004 - Former Chilean dictator , General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter during the Operation Condor . The same day, the house arrest is lifted by efforts of an appeal presented by Pinochet's lawyers.
2004 - Scott Peterson is sentenced to the death penalty in the murder case of his wife, Laci Peterson, and unborn son, Connor.
Births
1521 - Pope Sixtus V , religious leader (d. 1590 )
1533 - King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577 )
1553 - King Henry IV of France (d. 1610 )
1797 - Heinrich Heine , German poet (d. 1856 )
1798 - Joseph Walker , explorer
1813 - David Spangler Kaufman , American politician, first Jewish Congressman from Texas (d. 1851 )
1816 - Werner von Siemens , German engineer, inventor and industrialist (d. 1892 )
1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln , First Lady of the United States (d. 1882 )
1829 - Hugo von Ziemssen , physicist (d. 1902 )
1836 - Franz von Lenbach , painter (d. 1904 )
1854 - Thomas Watson , telephone pioneer
1864 - Emil Seidel , politician, mayor of Milwaukee, Socialist vice-presidential candidate (d. 1947 )
1874 - Josef Lhévinne , pianist (d. 1944 )
1887 - George Polya , mathematician (d. 1985 )
1887 - Alvin York , U.S. soldier of World War I, known as 'Sergeant York' (d. 1964 )
1897 - Drew Pearson , journalist, political columnist (d. 1969 )
1903 - Carlos Montoya , guitarist (d. 1993 )
1906 - Her Royal Highness Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968 )
1906 - Laurens van der Post , South African author (d. 1996 )
1910 - Van Heflin , actor (d. 1971 )
1911 - Kenneth Patchen , American poet and painter (d. 1972 )
1913 - Archie Moore , world champion boxer (d. 1998 )
1915 - Curd Jürgens , actor (d. 1982 )
1915 - Ross Macdonald , author (d. 1983 )
1923 - Larry Doby , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 2003 )
1925 - Dick Van Dyke , actor, comedian
1926 - George Rhoden , Jamaican athlete
1927 - Christopher Plummer , actor
1934 - Richard D. Zanuck , American motion picture producer
1943 - Ferguson Jenkins , Baseball Hall of Famer
1948 - Ted Nugent , musician
1948 - Brian Wilson (politician)
1950 - Tom Vilsack , Governor of Iowa
1953 - Bob Gainey , Hockey Hall of Famer
1957 - Steve Buscemi , actor
1957 - Jean-Marie Messier , French businessman
1958 - Lynn-Holly Johnson U.S Figure Skater and actress For Your Eyes Only 1961 - Harry Gregson-Williams , film composer
1967 - Jamie Foxx , actor
1974 - Nicholas McCarthy , guitarist Franz Ferdinand (band)
1975 - Tom Delonge Guitarist - blink-182
1981 - Amy Lee , Evanescence frontwoman
Deaths
1048 - Al-Biruni , Persian mathematician (b. 973 )
1124 - Pope Callixtus II
1204 - Maimonides , sephardi philosopher (b. 1135 )
1250 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194 )
1312 or 1313 - John Parricida of Habsburg (b. 1290 )
1565 - Konrad von Gesner , naturalist (b. 1516 )
1784 - Samuel Johnson , essayist
1881 - August Senoa , Croat writer (b. 1838 )
1944 - Wassily Kandinsky , artist (b. 1866 )
1961 - Grandma Moses , artist (b. 1860 )
2001 - Leonardo Mondadori , publisher
2001 - Chuck Schuldiner , musician
2002 - Zal Yanofsky , member of Lovin' Spoonful music group
2003 - William V. Roth, Jr. , United States Senator from Delaware
2004 - David Wheeler , Computer Scientist (b. 1927 )
2004 - Andre Rodgers , Major League Baseball player (b. 1934 )
2004 - Alex Soria , guitarist for the Nils (b. 1965 )
Holidays and observances
External links
December 12 - December 14 - November 13 - January 13 -- listing of all days
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