History for December 14

History for December 14 - On-This-Day.com
Nostradamus 1503, James Doolittle 1896, Lee Remick 1935 


Stan Smith 1946, Patty Duke 1946, Dee Wallace-Stone 1948 


1798 - David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patented the nut and bolt machine. 


1799 - The first president of the United States, George Washington, died at the age 67. 


1896 - Gen. James H. Doolittle, who led the first air raid on Japan during World War II, was born. 


1900 - Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory. 


1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt. Three days later, after repairs were made, the modern aviation age was born when the plane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and flew 102 feet. 


1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott. 


1945 - Josef Kramer, known as "the beast of Belsen," and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps. 


1981 - Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in war in 1967. 


1986 - The experimental aircraft Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, took off from California on the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world. The trip took nine days to complete. 


2013 - The Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 3 became the first spacecraft to "soft"-land on the Moon since 1976. It was only the third robotic rover to land on the moon.