Tuesday 10 December 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Human Rights Day

Interesting fact:in 2011, the United Nations declared internet access a basic human right. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the most translated document in t..→

Nobel Prizes Day

Today, the Nobel Prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards in the world in their various fields. Except for the Peace Prize, the Nobel Prizes are presented in S..→

Holidays and observances

• Alfred Nobel Day or Nobeldagen (Sweden)
• Argentina Social Worker Day (Día del Trabajador Social)
• Cisco Systems Day (Cybersecurity is its fastest growing business)
• Clown Day in Brazil (In Brazil, they call it dia Internacional do palhaço)
• Clown Day in Mexico
• International Animal Rights Day
• International Day of Action for the adoption of the Declaration of Animal Rights
• Mississippi Statehood Day (1817)
• Namibian Women's Day
• National Lager Day in USA
• Patron's Day of the Spanish Air Force
• Physicist's Day in Mexico
• Restoration of Democracy Day in Argentina
• St. Andrew's Day in Russia
• Thailand Constitution Day
• Victory Day in Iraq (Celebrates the defeat of the ISIS in Iraq in 2017)

Events

• 2007 – Announcing the formation of Allegiance Council, which was founded by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in the October 20, 2006, he was chosen Prince Mishaal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, as its chairman.
• 2006 – Lebanese opposition Popular organize a sit-in against the government is the largest in the history of Lebanon, downtown Beirut, where official agencies estimated the number of demonstrators at more than a million people.
• 1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.
• 1989 – Mongolian Revolution: At the country's first open pro-democracy public demonstration, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of the Mongolian Democratic Union.
• 1984 – United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture.
• 1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1955 – Mighty Mouse Playhouse premieres on American television.
• 1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill received the Nobel Prize in literature.
• 1948 – The Human Rights Convention is signed by the United Nations.
• 1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
• 1904 – Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity is founded at the College of Charleston.
• 1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
• 1899 – Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
• 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
• 1869 – The Kappa Sigma Fraternity is founded at the University of Virginia.
• 1868 – The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia.
• 1861 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
• 1665 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter

Births

• 1991 – Dion Waiters, American basketball player. Dion Waiters (born December 10, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1991 – Eric Reid, American football player. Eric Todd Reid Jr. (born December 10, 1991) is an American football safety for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL).
• 1990 – Terrell Sinkfield, American football player. In his career Sinkfield has been a member of eight NFL teams, three CFL teams, and one AAF team.
• 1986 – Kahlil Bell, American football player. Bell was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2009.
• 1985 – Matt Forte, American football player. Matthew Garrett Forte (born December 10, 1985) is a former American football running back who played ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL).
• 1985 – Raven-Symoné, American actress, singer, and dancer. Cooper (1993–1997).
• 1985 – T. J. Hensick, American ice hockey player. Hensick was drafted 88th overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche.
• 1980 – Sarah Chang, American violinist. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduated in 1999, and continued university studies.
• 1979 – Matt Bentley, American wrestler. Matthew James Bentley (born December 10, 1979) is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by the ring name Michael Shane, later changed to "Maverick" Matt Bentley.
• 1978 – Summer Phoenix, American actress. She is the youngest sibling of actors/actresses River Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, and Liberty Phoenix.
• 1975 – Steve Bradley, American wrestler (d. 2008), was an American professional wrestler who wrestled under the ring name Steve Bradley. He competed in various North American independent promotions as well as spending over three years in World Wrestling Entertainment developmental territories including Power Pro Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling.
• 1974 – Meg White, American drummer. Megan Martha White (born December 10, 1974) is an American drummer and occasional singer known for her work with Jack White in the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes.
• 1972 – Donavon Frankenreiter, American surfer, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. Donavon Frankenreiter (born December 10, 1972 in Downey, California) is an American musician and surfer.
• 1970 – Bryant Stith, American basketball player and coach. Bryant Lamonica Stith (born December 10, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1970 – Kevin Sharp, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014), was an American country music singer, author, and motivational speaker. Sharp came on the country music scene in 1996 with his first single "Nobody Knows", which topped the Billboard country chart for four weeks.
• 1965 – Greg Giraldo, American lawyer, comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2010). Giraldo (December 10, 1965 – September 29, 2010) was an American stand-up comedian, television personality, and lawyer.
• 1965 – J Mascis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. (/ˈmæskɪs/; born December 10, 1965), known professionally as J Mascis, is an American musician, best known as the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr.
• 1964 – Bobby Flay, American chef and author. Robert William Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and reality television personality.
• 1961 – Nia Peeples, American singer and actress. Her most recent role is Grace's mom, Susan, on The Fosters.
• 1959 – Mark Aguirre, American basketball player and coach. Aguirre played in the NBA from 1981 until 1994 and won two championships with the Detroit Pistons after being traded to Detroit from Dallas in exchange for Adrian Dantley.
• 1959 – Udi Aloni, American-Israeli director and author. Udi Aloni (Hebrew: אודי אלוני‎; born December 10, 1959) is an Israeli American filmmaker, writer, visual artist and political activist whose works focus on the interrelationships between art, theory, and action.
• 1958 – Cornelia Funke, German-American author. Funke is best known for her Inkheart trilogy (originally in German: Tintenwelt-Trilogie), published in the United Kingdom between 2004–2008.
• 1957 – Prem Rawat, Indian-American guru and educator. Prem Pal Singh Rawat (Hindi: प्रेम पाल सिंह रावत), born 10 December 1957, is an Indian American also known as Maharajji, and formerly as Guru Maharaj Ji and Balyogeshwar.
• 1956 – Jacquelyn Mitchard, American journalist and author. Jacquelyn Mitchard (born December 10, 1956) is an American journalist and author.
• 1956 – Rod Blagojevich, American lawyer and politician, 40th Governor of Illinois. Rod Blagojevich (/bləˈɡɔɪ.əvɪtʃ/, born December 10, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 until his impeachment, conviction, and removal from office in 2009.
• 1954 – Price Cobb, American race car driver and manager. He also owned an Indy Racing League team in 1998 and 1999 for Roberto Guerrero and Jim Guthrie.
• 1953 – Chris Bury, American journalist and academic. Christopher Robert "Chris" Bury (born December 10, 1953) is an American journalist at Al Jazeera America, where he is a correspondent for America Tonight.
• 1952 – Susan Dey, American actress. Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on the drama series L.A.
• 1951 – Johnny Rodriguez, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is a Latin American country music singer, infusing his music with Latin sounds, and even singing verses of songs in Spanish.
• 1950 – John Boozman, American football player, lawyer, and politician, senior senator of Arkansas. John Nichols Boozman (/ˈboʊzmən/; born December 10, 1950) is the senior United States senator for Arkansas, and a member of the Republican Party.
• 1949 – David Perdue, American politician, junior senator of Georgia. Perdue won the Republican primary and defeated Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn.
• 1948 – Jessica Cleaves, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014). Cleaves was a lead singer of The Friends of Distinction; Earth, Wind & Fire; Parliament Funkadelic; and Raw Silk.
• 1947 – Douglas Kenney, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1980), was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV, and film who co-founded the magazine National Lampoon in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its early material.
• 1944 – Steve Renko, American baseball player. Steve Renko, Jr. (born December 10, 1944) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball.
• 1941 – Tommy Rettig, American child actor (d. 1996), was an American child actor, computer software engineer, and author. Rettig is remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from 1954 to 1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs with the title Jeff's Collie.
• 1939 – Dick Bavetta, American basketball player and referee. Bavetta (born December 10, 1939) is an American retired professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1934 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994), was a US geneticist and virologist. He discovered reverse transcriptase in the 1970s at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, for which he shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Renato Dulbecco and David Baltimore.
• 1933 – Philip R. Craig, American author (d. 2007). Craig (December 10, 1933 – May 8, 2007) was a writer known for his Martha's Vineyard mysteries.
• 1930 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013), was an American college basketball coach, the head coach for eight seasons at the University of Idaho, his alma mater. He was also the head baseball coach at Idaho for nine seasons, and the assistant athletic director for fifteen years.
• 1928 – Barbara Nichols, American actress (d. 1976), was an American actress who often played brassy or comic roles in films in the 1950s and 1960s.
• 1926 – Guitar Slim, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959), was a New Orleans blues guitarist in the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song "The Things That I Used to Do", produced by Johnny Vincent for Specialty Records. It is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
• 1925 – Carolyn Kizer, American poet and academic (d. 2014), was an American poet of the Pacific Northwest whose works reflect her feminism. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1985.
• 1924 – Ken Albers, American singer and musician (d. 2007), was an American singer who performed with The Four Freshmen from 1956 to 1982.
• 1923 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect, designed the National Library of the Argentine Republic and Marriott Plaza Hotel (d. 2013). Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina
• 1923 – Harold Gould, American actor (d. 2010), was an American character actor. He appeared as Martin Morgenstern on the sitcom Rhoda (1974–78) and Miles Webber on the sitcom The Golden Girls (1989–92).
• 1922 – Agnes Nixon, American television writer and director (d. 2016), was an American television writer and producer, and the creator of the ABC soap operas One Life to Live, All My Children, and Loving.
• 1920 – Reginald Rose, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2002), was an American film and television writer, most widely known for his work in the early years of television drama. Rose's work is marked by its treatment of controversial social and political issues.
• 1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (d. 2008), was an American orchestrator, arranger, and composer of music, primarily for television and film. He is best known as the composer of the theme music for the original Star Trek series.
• 1918 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (d. 2003), was an American actress and model who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popular pin-ups of World War II.
• 1916 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (d. 2013), was the half brother of Art Arfons, his former partner in drag racing, and his competitor in jet-powered land speed record racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircraft jet engines for these types of competition.
• 1914 – Dorothy Lamour, American actress and singer (d. 1996). She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
• 1913 – Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1996), was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist.
• 1913 – Pannonica de Koenigswarter, English-American composer (d. 1988), was a British-born jazz patron and writer. She was a leading patron of bebop music.
• 1913 – Ray Nance, American trumpeter, violinist, and singer (d. 1976), was a jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra.
• 1912 – Philip Hart, American lawyer and politician, 49th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1976). A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until his death from cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1976.
• 1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974), was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.
• 1909 – Hermes Pan, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1990), was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He worked on nearly two dozen films and TV shows with Astaire.
• 1906 – Harold Adamson, American lyricist (d. 1980), was an American lyricist during the 1930s and 1940s.
• 1903 – Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986), was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress.
• 1891 – Arlie Mucks, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1967), was an American track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.
• 1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970). Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jewish people.
• 1886 – Victor McLaglen, English-American actor (d. 1959), was a British-American film actor. He was known as a character actor, particularly in Westerns, and made seven films with John Ford and John Wayne.
• 1870 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect and theoretician, designed Villa Müller (d. 1933), was an Austrian architect and influential European theorist of modern architecture. His essay Ornament and Crime advocated smooth and clear surfaces in contrast to the lavish decorations of the fin de siècle, as well as the more modern aesthetic principles of the Vienna Secession, exemplified in his design of Looshaus, Vienna.
• 1851 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, created the Dewey Decimal System (d. 1931), was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club.
• 1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886). Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, into a prominent family with strong ties to its community.
• 1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist, founded The Liberator (d. 1879). William Lloyd Garrison (December 10, 1805 – May 24, 1879), who signed and printed his name Wm.
• 1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator, founded the American School for the Deaf (d. 1851). Along with Laurent Clerc and Mason Cogswell, he co-founded the first permanent institution for the education of the deaf in North America, and he became its first principal.

Deaths

• 2015 – Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Ron Bouchard, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1948)
• 2014 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (b. 1944)
• 2014 – Robert B. Oakley, American diplomat, 19th United States Ambassador to Pakistan (b. 1931)
• 2013 – Don Lund, American baseball player and coach (b. 1923)
• 2010 – J. Michael Hagopian, Armenian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1913)
• 2010 – MacKenzie Miller, American horse trainer and breeder (b. 1921)
• 2007 – Vitali Hakko, Turkish businessman, founded Vakko (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean general and politician, 30th President of Chile (b. 1915)
• 2006 – Olivia Coolidge, English-American author and educator (b. 1908)
• 2005 – Eugene McCarthy, American poet, academic, and politician (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Richard Pryor, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)
• 2004 – Gary Webb, American journalist and author (b. 1955)
• 2000 – Marie Windsor, American actress (b. 1919)
• 1999 – Woodrow Borah, American historian of Spanish America (b. 1912)
• 1996 – Faron Young, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1932)
• 1994 – Alex Wilson, Canadian-American sprinter (b. 1905)
• 1993 – Alice Tully, American soprano (b. 1902)
• 1991 – Greta Kempton, Austrian-American painter and academic (b. 1901)
• 1990 – Armand Hammer, American businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (b. 1898)
• 1988 – Richard S. Castellano, American actor (b. 1933)
• 1987 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-American violinist and educator (b. 1901)
• 1982 – Freeman Gosden, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1899)
• 1979 – Ann Dvorak, American actress (b. 1911)
• 1978 – Ed Wood, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
• 1977 – Adolph Rupp, American basketball player and coach (b. 1901)
• 1973 – Wolf V. Vishniac, German-American microbiologist and academic (b. 1922)
• 1972 – Mark Van Doren, American poet, critic, and academic (b. 1894)
• 1968 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
• 1967 – Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1941)
• 1958 – Adolfo Camarillo, American horse breeder, rancher, and philanthropist (b. 1864)
• 1946 – Damon Runyon, American newspaperman and short story writer (b. 1884)
• 1946 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1887)
• 1941 – Colin Kelly, American captain and pilot (b. 1915)
• 1939 – John Grieb, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1879)
• 1936 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, novelist, and poet Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
• 1920 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (b. 1868)
• 1909 – Red Cloud, American tribal chief (b. 1822)
• 1896 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and engineer, invented Dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)