On This Day December 10th

 

OTD

December 10th is the 344th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 21 days remain until the end of the year.

 

 Events

1317 – The "Nyköping Banquet": King Birger of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers Valdemar, Duke of Finland, and Eric, Duke of Södermanland, who were subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle.

1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate.

1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published.

1799 – France adopts the meter as its official unit of length.

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.

1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.

1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1993 – The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages.

2021 – A widespread, deadly, and violent tornado outbreak slams the Central, Midwestern, and Southern regions of the United States. Eighty-nine people were killed by the tornadoes, with most of the fatalities occurring in Kentucky, where a single tornado killed 57 people and injured hundreds of others.

 

Birthdays

1751 – George Shaw, English botanist and zoologist (d. 1813)

1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist, founded The Liberator (d. 1879)

1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)

1907 – Rumer Godden, English author and poet (d. 1998)

1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)

1961 – Nia Peeples, American singer and actress

1974 – Meg White, American drummer

1990 – Wil Myers, American baseball player

1996 – Joe Burrow, American football player

 

Holiday Spotlight

Nobel Prize Day

  Alfred Nobel was born to impoverished parents in Stockholm, but his father was a descendant of a very highly regarded Swedish scientist and writer, Olaus, or Olof, Rudbeck. His father was an engineer, and Alfred Nobel expressed early interest in engineering, particularly explosives. This, of course, bore results, with Nobel becoming interested in stabilizing the unpredictable explosive nitroglycerin as early as his teenage years. Despite one of his brothers dying in a tragic accident involving this pursuit, Nobel continued his work, shifting the factory base to a more isolated area and ultimately succeeding in inventing dynamite as a superior and more stable version of nitroglycerin.

Alfred Nobel went on to invent an even better alternative to dynamite in the form of gelignite. This became a staple in mining operations and made Nobel financially successful. Nobel also invented weaponry for military purposes and started companies to sell these. When a French newspaper carried a false obituary of Nobel, criticizing him for his role in warfare, he re-evaluated his life’s goals. He decided to use his earnings to set up a prize that recognized the best in humanity. The prizes in the different categories reflect his interests in various fields. Apart from being an entrepreneurial engineer, he was also a writer.

While Nobel is still criticized for his role in furthering military technology, the Nobel Prizes, including the Prize for Economics, added later, are considered the most prestigious achievement for practitioners in those fields.

 

Other Include

Dewey Decimal System Day

Festival for the Souls of Dead Whales

Human Rights Day

International Animal Rights Day

Jane Addams Day

National Day of Animal Rights

National Lager Day

World Choral Day

Worldwide Candle Lighting Day