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.
*1904 - Konservativ Ungdom (Young Conservatives) in Denmark is founded by Carl F. Herman von Rosen. Still existing today, it is the oldest youth political organisation in Denmark and believed to be one of the oldest remaining in the world.
*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 Harbor 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 Harbor.
* 1941 - World War II: Pacific War - The Netherlands issues a proclamation in which it declares war against Japan, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
* 1941 - World War II: Pacific War - The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in China issues a proclamation which declared war against Japan and Germany on behalf of Korean people, who were under Japanese occupation since 1910.
* 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 extermination 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.
*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.
*1995 - Jean-Dominique Bauby suffers a stroke
*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 - Guitarist Dimebag Darrell Abbott is murdered onstage by Nathan Gale at a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio.
* 2004 - The population of the Australian state of Victoria reaches 5 million for the first time.
*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 and sculptor (d. 1943)
*1865 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (d. 1957)
*1874 - Ernst Moro, Austrian physician (d. 1951)
*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
*1940 - Brant Alyea, Baseball player
*1941 - Sir Geoff Hurst, Ex-English footballer
* 1941 - Ed Brinkman, Baseball player
*1943 - Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (d. 1971)
* 1943 - Mary Woronov, American actress
*1946 - John Rubinstein, American actor, composer, director
*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 - Richard A. 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 - Sandy Burnett, British record producer
* 1964 - Teri Hatcher, American actress
*1965 - Carina Lau, Hong Kong actress
*1966 - Sinéad O'Connor, Irish musician
* 1966 - Michael Cole, American professional wrestling commentator
*1967 - Kotono Mitsuishi, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
*1968 - Mike Mussina, American baseball player
*1972 - Marco Abreu, Angolan footballer
* 1972 - Frank Shamrock, American MMA-Fighter and younger brother of MMA-Fighter Ken Shamrock
*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
*1977 - Ryan Newman, American NASCAR driver
* 1977 - Elsa Benítez, Mexican supermodel
*1978 - Ian Somerhalder, American actor
* 1978 - Vernon Wells, American baseball player
*1982 - Michael Essien, Ghanaian international footballer
* 1982 - James Guffey, American professional wrestler
*1985 - Dwight Howard, American basketball player
*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)
*1744 - Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, Duchess de Châteauroux, French mistress of King Louis XV of France (b. 1717)
*1745 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (b. 1683)
*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)
*1914 - Maximilian von Spee, German naval officer (b. 1861)
*1917 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian writer (b. 1836)
*1938 - Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (b. 1896)
*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, songwriter and peace activist (b. 1940)
* 1980 - Darby Crash, American singer and songwriter (The Germs) (b. 1958)
*1982 - Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (b. 1951)
* 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)
* 2004 - Nathan Gale American murderer (Murder of Dimebag Darrel) (b. 1979)
*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
* 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