14 December

Events

Pre-1600

* 557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake, which cracks the dome of Hagia Sophia.
* 835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled.
* 1287 – St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
* 1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen of Scots at the age of one week on the death of her father, James V of Scotland.

1601–1900

*1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded in Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
*1780 – Founding Father Alexander Hamilton marries Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany, New York.
*1782 – The Montgolfier brothers first test fly an unmanned hot air balloon in France; it floats nearly .
*1812 – The French invasion of Russia comes to an end as the remnants of the Grande Armée are expelled from Russia.
*1814 – War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
*1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
*1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends as the "Frostbitten Convention" votes to accept Congress' terms for admitting Michigan as a U.S. state.
* 1863 – American Civil War: The Confederate victory under General James Longstreet at the Battle of Bean's Station in East Tennessee ends the Knoxville Campaign, but achieves very little as Longstreet returns to Virginia next spring.
*1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
*1900 – Quantum mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin.

1901–present

* 1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from San Francisco to Honolulu.
* 1903 – The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the ''Wright Flyer'' at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
*1907 – The , the largest ever ship without a heat engine, runs aground and founders near the Hellweather's Reef within the Isles of Scilly in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
*1909 – New South Wales Premier Charles Wade signs the Seat of Government Surrender Act 1909, formally completing the transfer of State land to the Commonwealth to create the Australian Capital Territory.
* 1911 – Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
*1913 – , the fourth and last ship, launches, eventually becoming one of the Japanese workhorses during World War I and World War II.
*1914 – Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressive Party (''Partido Demócrata Progresista'', PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
*1918 – Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounces the Finnish throne.
* 1918 – Portuguese President Sidónio Pais is assassinated.
* 1918 – The 1918 United Kingdom general election occurs, the first where women were permitted to vote.
* 1918 – Giacomo Puccini's comic opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
*1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
*1940 – Plutonium (specifically Pu-238) is first isolated at Berkeley, California.
*1948 – Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann are granted a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the earliest known interactive electronic game.
*1955 – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ceylon, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations through United Nations Security Council Resolution 109.
* 1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility.
*1960 – Convention against Discrimination in Education of UNESCO is adopted.
*1962 – NASA's ''Mariner 2'' becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
*1963 – The dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir bursts, killing five people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.
*1964 – American Civil Rights Movement: ''Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States'': The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
*1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistans intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan Army and their local allies. (The date is commemorated in Bangladesh as Martyred Intellectuals Day.)
*1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the most recent person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final extravehicular activity (EVA) of the Apollo 17 mission.
*1981 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the ''Golan Heights Law'', extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.
*1985 – Wilma Mankiller takes office as the first woman elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
*1986 – Qasba Aligarh massacre: Over 400 Muhajirs killed in revenge killings in Qasba colony after a raid on Pashtun heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces.
*1992 – War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.
*1994 – Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river.
*1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by the leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*1998 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
*1999 – Torrential rains cause flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
*2003 – Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
*2004 – The Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is formally inaugurated near Millau, France.
*2012 – Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
*2013 – A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.
*2017 – The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox movie studio, for $52.4 billion.
*2020 – A total solar eclipse is visible from parts of the South Pacific Ocean, southern South America, and the South Atlantic Ocean.

Births

Pre-1600

* 1009 – Go-Suzaku, emperor of Japan (d. 1045)
*1332 – Frederick III, German nobleman (d. 1381)
*1546 – Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and chemist (d. 1601)
* 1599 – Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge, English politician (d. 1668)

1601–1900

*1607 – János Kemény, Hungarian prince (d. 1662)
*1625 – Barthélemy d'Herbelot, French orientalist and academic (d. 1695)
*1631 – Anne Conway, English philosopher and author (d. 1679)
* 1640 – Aphra Behn, English playwright and author (d. 1689)
* 1678 – Daniel Neal, English historian and author (d. 1743)
*1720 – Justus Möser, German jurist and theorist (d. 1794)
* 1730 – Capel Bond, English organist and composer (d. 1790)
* 1738 – Jan Antonín Koželuh, Czech composer and educator (d. 1814)
*1775 – Philander Chase, American bishop and educator, founded Kenyon College (d. 1852)
* 1775 – Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1860)
*1777 – Du Pre Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, Irish politician, Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone (d. 1839)
* 1784 – Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1806)
*1789 – Maria Szymanowska, Polish composer and pianist (d. 1831)
*1791 – Charles Wolfe, Irish priest and poet (d. 1823)
*1794 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (d. 1872)
* 1816 – Abraham Hochmuth, Hungarian rabbi and educator (d. 1889)
* 1824 – Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter and illustrator (d. 1898)
*1832 – Daniel H. Reynolds, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1902)
* 1851 – Mary Tappan Wright, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1916)
*1852 – Daniel De Leon, Curaçaoan-American journalist and politician (d. 1914)
*1856 – Louis Marshall, American lawyer and activist (d. 1929)
*1866 – Roger Fry, English painter and critic (d. 1934)
* 1870 – Karl Renner, Austrian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Austria (d. 1950)
* 1881 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress and producer (d. 1956)
*1883 – Manolis Kalomiris, Greek pianist and composer (d. 1962)
* 1883 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, developed aikido (d. 1969)
* 1884 – Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d. 1950)
*1887 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (d. 1963)
* 1894 – Alexander Nelke, Estonian-American painter and carpenter (d. 1974)
*1895 – George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
* 1895 – Paul Éluard, French poet and author (d. 1952)
*1896 – Jimmy Doolittle, American general and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1993)
* 1897 – Kurt Schuschnigg, Italian-Austrian lawyer and politician, 15th Federal Chancellor of Austria (d. 1977)
* 1897 – Margaret Chase Smith, American educator and politician (d. 1995)
* 1899 – DeFord Bailey, American Hall of Fame country and blues musician (d. 1982)

1901–present

*1901 – Henri Cochet, French tennis player (d. 1987)
* 1901 – Paul of Greece (d. 1964)
* 1902 – Frances Bavier, American actress (d. 1989)
* 1902 – Herbert Feigl, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1988)
* 1903 – Walter Rangeley, English sprinter (d. 1982)
*1904 – Virginia Coffey, American civil rights activist (d. 2003)
* 1908 – Morey Amsterdam, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
* 1908 – Claude Davey, Welsh rugby player (d. 2001)
* 1908 – Mária Szepes, Hungarian journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
*1909 – Edward Lawrie Tatum, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
* 1911 – Spike Jones, American singer and bandleader (d. 1965)
* 1911 – Hans von Ohain, German-American physicist and engineer (d. 1998)
* 1911 – Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, Greek-Polish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1943)
*1914 – Karl Carstens, German lieutenant and politician, 5th President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1992)
* 1914 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichord player (d. 2003)
*1915 – Dan Dailey, American dancer and actor (d. 1978)
* 1916 – Shirley Jackson, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1965)
*1917 – C.-H. Hermansson, Swedish author and politician (d. 2016)
* 1917 – Elyse Knox, American actress and fashion designer (d. 2012)
* 1917 – June Taylor, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
*1918 – James T. Aubrey, American broadcaster (d. 1994)
* 1918 – Radu Beligan, Romanian actor and director (d. 2016)
* 1918 – B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga instructor and author, founded Iyengar Yoga (d. 2014)
*1920 – Clark Terry, American trumpet player, composer, and educator (d. 2015)
*1922 – Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
* 1922 – Don Hewitt, American journalist and producer, created ''60 Minutes'' (d. 2009)
* 1922 – Junior J. Spurrier, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1984)
* 1923 – Gerard Reve, Dutch-Belgian author and poet (d. 2006)
*1924 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor, director, and producer (d. 1988)
*1925 – Sam Jones, American baseball player (d. 1971)
* 1927 – Richard Cassilly, American tenor and actor (d. 1998)
* 1927 – Koos Rietkerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of the Interior (d. 1986)
*1929 – Ron Jarden, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1977)
*1930 – David R. Harris, English geographer, anthropologist, and archaeologist (d. 2013)
* 1930 – Margaret Bakkes, South African author (d. 2016)
*1931 – Jon Elia, Pakistani philosopher, poet, and scholar (d. 2002)
* 1931 – Vladimir-Georg Karassev-Orgusaar, Estonian director and politician (d. 2015)
* 1932 – George Furth, American actor and playwright (d. 2008)
* 1932 – Abbe Lane, American actress, singer, and dancer
* 1932 – Charlie Rich, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
*1934 – Shyam Benegal, Indian director and screenwriter
* 1934 – Charlie Hodge, American guitarist and singer (d. 2006)
*1935 – Lewis Arquette, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
* 1935 – Lee Remick, American actress (d. 1991)
* 1938 – Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian and author
* 1938 – Charlie Griffith, Barbadian cricketer
*1939 – Ann Cryer, English academic and politician
* 1939 – Ernie Davis, American football player (d. 1963)
*1940 – Lex Gold, Scottish footballer and civil servant
*1941 – Karan Armstrong, American soprano and actress (d. 2021)
* 1941 – Ellen Willis, American journalist, critic, and academic (d. 2006)
*1942 – Chris Harris, English actor and director (d. 2014)
* 1942 – Dick Wagner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
*1943 – Tommy McAvoy, Scottish politician
* 1943 – Emmett Tyrrell, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded ''The American Spectator''
*1944 – Graham Kirkham, Baron Kirkham, English businessman, founded DFS
* 1944 – Denis Thwaites, English professional footballer murdered in the 2015 Sousse attacks (d. 2015)
* 1946 – Antony Beevor, English historian and author
* 1946 – Jane Birkin, English-French actress and singer
* 1946 – John Du Prez, English conductor and composer
* 1946 – Patty Duke, American actress (d. 2016)
* 1946 – Ruth Fuchs, German javelin thrower and politician
* 1946 – Peter Lorimer, Scottish footballer (d. 2021)
* 1946 – Michael Ovitz, American talent agent, co-founded Creative Artists Agency
* 1946 – Stan Smith, American tennis player and coach
* 1946 – Joyce Vincent Wilson, American singer
*1947 – Christopher Parkening, American guitarist and educator
* 1947 – Dilma Rousseff, Brazilian economist and politician, 36th President of Brazil
*1948 – Lester Bangs, American journalist and author (d. 1982)
* 1948 – Kim Beazley, Australian politician and diplomat, 9th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
* 1948 – Boudewijn Büch, Dutch author, poet, and television host (d. 2002)
* 1948 – Peeter Kreitzberg, Estonian lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
*1949 – Bill Buckner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
* 1949 – Cliff Williams, Australian bass player
*1951 – Jan Timman, Dutch chess player and author
*1952 – John Lurie, American actor, saxophonist, painter, director, and producer
* 1953 – Vijay Amritraj, Indian tennis player and sportscaster
* 1953 – Wade Davis, Canadian anthropologist, author, and photographer
* 1953 – René Eespere, Estonian composer
* 1953 – Vangelis Meimarakis, Greek lawyer and politician, 4th Greek Minister for National Defence
* 1953 – Mikael Odenberg, Swedish soldier and politician, 29th Swedish Minister for Defence
* 1954 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
* 1954 – Steve MacLean, Canadian physicist and astronaut
*1955 – Jane Crafter, Australian golfer
* 1955 – Jill Pipher, American mathematician and academic
*1956 – Linda Fabiani, Scottish politician
* 1956 – Hanni Wenzel, German skier
* 1958 – Mike Scott, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
* 1958 – Spider Stacy, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
*1959 – Bob Paris, American-Canadian bodybuilder and actor
* 1959 – Jorge Vaca, Mexican boxer
*1960 – James Comey, American lawyer, 7th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
* 1960 – Don Franklin, American actor
* 1960 – Chris Waddle, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
* 1960 – Diane Williams, American sprinter
*1961 – Jeff Robinson, American baseball player (d. 2014)
* 1961 – Patrik Sundström, Swedish ice hockey player
*1963 – Greg Abbott, English footballer and manager
* 1963 – Diana Gansky, German discus thrower
*1965 – Craig Biggio, American baseball player and coach
* 1965 – Ken Hill, American baseball player
* 1965 – Ted Raimi, American actor, director, and screenwriter
*1966 – Fabrizio Giovanardi, Italian race car driver
* 1966 – Anthony Mason, American basketball player (d. 2015)
* 1966 – Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Danish academic and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Denmark
* 1966 – Bill Ranford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
* 1966 – Tim Sköld, Swedish bass player and producer
*1967 – Ewa Białołęcka, Polish author
* 1967 – Hanne Haugland, Norwegian high jumper and coach
*1968 – Kelley Armstrong – Scott Hatteberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
* 1969 – Archie Kao, American actor and producer
* 1969 – Arthur Numan, Dutch footballer and manager
* 1969 – Natascha McElhone, English-Irish actress
*1970 – Anna Maria Jopek, Polish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
* 1970 – Beth Orton, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
*1971 – Michaela Watkins, American actor and comedian
*1972 – Miranda Hart, English actress
* 1972 – Marcus Jensen, American baseball player and coach
*1973 – Falk Balzer, German hurdler
* 1973 – Pat Burke, Irish basketball player
* 1973 – Tomasz Radzinski, Polish-Canadian footballer
* 1973 – Saulius Štombergas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
*1974 – Billy Koch, American baseball player
*1975 – Justin Furstenfeld, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
* 1975 – Ben Kay, English rugby player
*1976 – Tammy Blanchard, American actress and singer
* 1976 – Leland Chapman, American bounty hunter
* 1976 – Sebastien Chaule

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