December 8

December 8 is the 342nd day (343rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 23 days remaining.

Events

• 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe.
• 1854 - Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogma of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
• 1869 - Timothy Eaton founds T. Eaton Co. Limited in Toronto, Canada.
• 1886 - The American Federation of Labor is founded by Samuel Gompers in Columbus, Ohio.
• 1907 - King Gustaf V of Sweden accedes to the Swedish throne.
• 1914 - World War I: Battle of the Falkland Islands - The Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee is engaged by the Royal Navy.
• 1941 - World War II: Pacific War - After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour the U.S. Congress passes a declaration of war against Japan.
• 1941 - World War II: Pacific War - China officially declares war against Japan, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
• 1941 - World War II: Pacific War - The Netherlands issues a proclamation in which it declares war against Japan, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Hong Kong - The Japanese invade the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong less than 8 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour.
• 1941 - Holocaust: Gas vans are first used as a means of execution, at the Chelmno concentration camp near Łódź in Poland.
• 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The capital of the Republic of China is moved from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan.
• 1959 - President of the United States, Eisenhower watches Pakistan vs Australia cricket test match at Karachi.
• 1966 - The Greek ferry Heraklion sinks in a storm in the Aegean Sea, killing over 200.
• 1968 - NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.
• 1969 - An Olympic Airways DC-6B crashes near Athens during a storm, killing 93 people.
• 1972 - United Airlines Flight 533 crashes near Chicago Midway Airport, killing 45 people.
• 1976 - The Eagles release the album Hotel California.
• 1980 - John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in New York City.
• 1981 - No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee kills 13.
• 1987 - The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.
• 1987 - The Queen Street Massacre: Frank Vitkovic shoots and kills 8 people at the offices of Australia Post in Melbourne, Australia before being killed himself.
• 1989 - Dave S. Clean Date (starts his journey of recovery).
• 1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
• 1991 - The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.
• 1993 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by US President Bill Clinton.
• 1994 - US President Bill Clinton signs a bill enacting United States participation in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
• 1998 - Tadjena massacre: 81 people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.
• 2004 - The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.
• 2004 - The population of the Australian state of Victoria reaches 5 million for the first time.
• 2004 - Crazed Pantera fan Nathan Gale shoots and kills Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell at a night club in Columbus, Ohio.
• 2005 - Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 slides off the runway at Chicago Midway Airport, killing a 6-year-old boy and injuring 11 other people.
• 2005 - Ante Gotovina, Croatian army general accused of war crimes, was captured in the Playa de las Americas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife by the Spanish police

Births

• 65 BC - Horace, Roman poet (d. 8 BC)
• 1542 - Mary Queen of Scots (d. 1587)
• 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
• 1678 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole of Wolterton, English diplomat (d. 1757)
• 1708 - Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1765)
• 1730 - Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch-born British physiologist and botanist (d. 1799)
• 1765 - Eli Whitney, American inventor (d. 1825)
• 1815 - Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1905)
• 1816 - August Belmont, Sr., Prussian-born American financier (d. 1890)
• 1832 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
• 1848 - Joel Chandler Harris, American author and folklorist (d. 1908)
• 1861 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (d. 1947)
• 1861 - Aristide Maillol, French sculptor (d. 1944)
• 1862 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (d. 1921)
• 1864 - Camille Claudel, French graphic artist (d. 1943)
• 1865 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
• 1886 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (d. 1957)
• 1890 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (d. 1959)
• 1894 - James Thurber, American writer (d. 1961)
• 1911 - Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976)
• 1913 - Delmore Schwartz, American Poet (d. 1966)
• 1915 - Ernest Lehman, American screenwriter (d. 2005)
• 1918 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (d. 2004)
• 1919 - Peter Tali Coleman, American politician (d. 1997)
• 1923 - Rudolph Pariser, Chinese-born American chemist
• 1925 - Sammy Davis Jr., American actor and singer (d. 1990)
• 1927 - Vladimir Shatalov, Soviet Union-born cosmonaut
• 1930 - Maximilian Schell, Austrian-born Swiss actor, film director, and author
• 1933 - Flip Wilson, American comedian (d. 1998)
• 1936 - David Carradine, American actor
• 1937 - James MacArthur, American actor
• 1937 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman (d. 2004)
• 1939 - Sir James Galway, Northern Irish flautist
• 1943 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
• 1943 - Mary Woronov, American actress
• 1947 - Gregg Allman, American musician
• 1947 - Thomas R. Cech, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
• 1948 - Gary Thain, New Zealand bassist (Uriah Heep) (d. 1975
• 1949 - Robert Sternberg, Proposed the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
• 1950 - Rick Baker, American film makeup artist
• 1951 - Jan Eggum, Norwegian singer-songwriter
• 1953 - Kim Basinger, American actress
• 1956 - Warren Cuccurullo, American musician
• 1957 - Phil Collen, British guitarist (Def Leppard)
• 1961 - Ann Coulter, American author, political commentator, and attorney
• 1962 - Marty Friedman, American guitarist
• 1964 - Teri Hatcher, American actress
• 1966 - Sinéad O'Connor, Irish musician
• 1968 - Mike Mussina, American baseball player
• 1973 - Corey Taylor, American singer (Slipknot)
• 1975 - Kevin Harvick, American NASCAR driver
• 1976 - Dominic Monaghan, German-born British actor
• 1976 - Naimee Coleman, Irish singer and songwriter
• 1978 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
• 1978 - Vernon Wells, American baseball player
• 1982 - Michael Essien, Ghanaian international footballer
• 1986 - Amir Khan, British boxer
• 1993 - AnnaSophia Robb, American child actress

Deaths

• 899 - Arnulf of Carinthia (b. 850)
• 1626 - John Davies, English poet (b. 1569)
• 1632 - Philippe van Lansberge, Flemish astronomer (b. 1561)
• 1638 - Ivan Gundulic, Croatian poet (b. 1589)
• 1643 - John Pym, English statesman (b. 1583)
• 1649 - Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1613)
• 1680 - Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester, English politician (b. 1606)
• 1691 - Richard Baxter, English clergyman (b. 1615)
• 1695 - Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (b. 1625)
• 1709 - Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (b. 1625)
• 1722 - Liselotte von der Pfalz, Duchess of Orléans and sister-in-law of King Louis XIV of France (b. 1652)
• 1745 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (b. 1683)
• 1744 - Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, Duchess de Châteauroux, French mistress of King Louis XV of France (b. 1717)
• 1746 - Charles Radclyffe, British politician (b. 1693)
• 1756 - William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, British statesman and diplomat
• 1768 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (b. 1702)
• 1830 - Benjamin Constant, Swiss writer (b. 1767)
• 1859 - Thomas de Quincey, British author (b. 1785)
• 1864 - George Boole, British mathematician and philosopher, inventor of Boolean algebra (b. 1815)
• 1907 - King Oscar II of Sweden (b. 1829)
• 1917 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian writer (b. 1836)
• 1952 - Charles Lightoller, British second officer on the Titanic (b. 1874)
• 1958 - Tris Speaker, American baseball player (b. 1888)
• 1963 - Field Marshal Sarit Dhanarajata, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908)
• 1978 - Golda Meir, Russian-born Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)
• 1980 - John Lennon, British musician, singer, and songwriter (b. 1940)
• 1980 - Darby Crash, American singer and songwriter (The Germs) (b. 1958)
• 1982 - Marty Robbins, American singer (b. 1925)
• 1983 - Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1984 - Luther Adler, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1992 - William Shawn, American magazine editor (b. 1917)
• 1994 - Tom Jobim, Brazilian composer and arranger (b. 1927)
• 1999 - Kuczka Péter, Hungarian writer, poet, and science fiction editor (b. 1923)
• 2001 - Don Tennant, American advertising executive (b. 1922)
• 2003 - Rubén González, Cuban pianist (Buena Vista Social Club)
• 2003 - Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (b. 1909)
• 2004 - Dimebag Darrell (Darrell Abbott), American guitarist (b. 1966)
• 2005 - Georgiy Zhzhonov Russian actor and author (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

• Buddhism - The Enlightenment of Gautama Buddha
• R.C. Saints - The solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary: a Holy Day of Obligation
• Also see December 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Bulgaria - Day of the Student (studentski praznik)
• Italy - In Milan, the opera season starts.
• Malta - Public Holiday.
• Romania - Constitution Day
• Afflux (50 Aftermath) (Discordianism)
• Panama - Mother's Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

December 7 - December 9 - November 8 - January 8 -- listing of all days