On This day December 22nd

 OTD

December 22nd is the 356th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 9 days remain until the end of the year.

 Events

856 – Damghan earthquake: An earthquake near the Persian city of Damghan killed an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history.

1788 – Nguyễn Huệ proclaims himself Emperor Quang Trung, abolishing on his own the Lê dynasty.

1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, was passed by the U.S. Congress at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.

1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, and Choral Fantasy.

1851 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.

1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.

1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.

1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge: German troops demanded the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one-word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1964 – The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) occurred at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.

1989 – German reunification: Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

 

Birthdays

1591 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (d. 1666)

1639 – Jean Racine, French poet and playwright (d. 1699)

1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1924)

1862 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (d. 1956)

1915 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress (d. 2010)

1944 – Steve Carlton, American baseball player.

1944 – Steve Carlton, American baseball player

1972 – Vanessa Paradis, French singer-songwriter and actress

1993 – Meghan Trainor, American singer-songwriter and producer

 

Holiday Spotlight

Mathematics Day

  Srinivasa Ramanujan is the brilliant mathematician behind the inspiration for Mathematics Day in India, whose works influenced many across the country and the world. Ramanujan was born in 1887, in Erode Tamil Nadu to an Iyengar Brahmin family. At age 12, despite lacking a formal education, he excelled at trigonometry and developed many theorems for himself.

 After finishing secondary school in 1904, Ramanujan became eligible for a scholarship to study at the Government Arts College, Kumbakonam, but could not secure it since he did not excel in other subjects. At 14, Ramanujan ran away from home and enrolled at Pachaiyappa’s College in Madras, where he too only excelled in mathematics without managing the same in other subjects and could not finish with a Fellow of Arts degree. Living in dire poverty, Ramanujan instead pursued independent research in mathematics.

 Soon, the budding mathematician was noticed in Chennai’s mathematics circles. In 1912, Ramaswamy Iyer — founder of the Indian Mathematical Society — helped him get a clerk position at the Madras Port Trust. Ramanujan then began sending his work to British mathematicians, receiving a breakthrough in 1913 when Cambridge-based GH Hardy called him to London after being impressed by Ramanujan’s theorems.

 Ramanujan went to Britain in 1914, where Hardy got him into Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1917, Ramanujan was well on his way to success after being elected a member of the London Mathematical Society, and he also became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1918 — one of the youngest to achieve the esteemed position.

 Ramanujan returned to India in 1919 because he couldn’t get accustomed to the diet in Britain. His health continued to deteriorate, and he died in 1920 at the age of 32. However, his achievements in the field of mathematics are still highly regarded across the globe. Ramanujan left behind three notebooks with pages containing unpublished results, which mathematicians continued to work on for years to come. So much so that in 2012, former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh declared National Mathematics Day to be celebrated nationwide on December 22 — the day of Ramanujan’s birth.

.Other Include

Abilities Day

Be a Lover of Silence Day

Forefathers’ Day

National Cookie Exchange Day

National Date Nut Bread Day

National Haiku Poetry Day

Unity Day Zimbabwe

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