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Events

619 - Boniface V becomes Pope.

1493 - Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle is published.

1783 - George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

1823 - The poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (AKA The Night Before Christmas) is published in the Sentinel.

1888 - Vincent Van Gogh cuts off the lower part of his left ear, takes it to a brothel, and gives it to a prostitute named Rachel.

1913 - The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.

1916 - World War I: Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

1936 - Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1954 - The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

1970 - Topping-out of World Trade Center's North Tower in New York City.

1972 - The Nicaraguan capital of Managua is struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 10,000.

1972 - All 16 survivors of the October 13 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 are rescued.

 
 

1979 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.

1986 - Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California and becomes the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world.

1990 - History of Slovenia: 88% of Slovenia's population vote for independence from Yugoslavia in a referendum.

2004 - Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake.

2005 - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashed shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.

2005 - Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18th attack on Adre, which left about 100 people dead.

 
 

 

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