What happened on December 10 ?

1041 - Michael IV, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)

1198 - Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126)

1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)

1603 - William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544)

1618 - Giulio Caccini, Italian composer

1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)

1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer

1736 - António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)

1831 - Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)

1850 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (b. 1787)

1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)

1896 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)

1911 - Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, British botanist (b. 1817)

1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)

1928 - Charles Rennie Mackintosh, British architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868)

1936 - Bobby Abel, English test cricketer (b. 1857)

1936 - Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)

1941 - Colin Kelly, American pilot

1945 - Theodor Dannecker, SS officer (b. 1913)

1946 - Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)

1946 - Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)

1951 - Algernon Blackwood, British writer (b. 1869)

1953 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)

1967 - Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941)

1968 - Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)

1968 - Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)

1969 - Carlos Marighella, Brazilian politician

1978 - Ed Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)

1979 - Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912)

1982 - Freeman F. Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)

1986 - Susan Cabot, American actress (murdered) (b. 1927)

1987 - Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901)

1990 - Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898)

1991 - Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)

1994 - Alexander Wilson, Canadian and Notre Dame athlete (b. 1905)

1996 - Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)

1999 - Franjo Tu?man, President of Croatia (b. 1922)

1999 - Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942)

2000 - Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919)

2001 - Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)

2005 - Eugene J. McCarthy, United States Senator (b. 1916)

2005 - Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940)

BBC: On This Day